Chihiro (Oldest Version)
by swansae515
Summary: Chihiro doesn't remember anything that happened in the Spirit World, but when Haku shows up at her school, she has to return.
1. Prologue

**Warning: This is a _unfinished_ draft of "Chihiro." You may recognize some of the scenes and characters from the story, but the plot is almost completely different. A lot of you enjoyed this version back in 2013 and I thought it was a shame to just keep it buried in my computer, so here it is. If you haven't read the completed story, you can find it from my profile. One last revision is on its way, and hopefully will result in as big a change as did from this version to the next. Thanks!**

**Swansae**

* * *

She was a good student, a good friend, and a good daughter. She was always someone you could go to when you needed a hand or to share a secret you just had to tell. She had everyone's trust. The teachers loved her. They always praised her work, praised her for getting along with the other students, praised her for being obedient, and yet…

Sometimes, while talking to you, she slipped into a reverie. She would get that far away look in her eyes and then you knew there was no hope; she wasn't paying attention to you anymore. She would look at you and see past you at something only visible to her. When you snapped her out of it, she often didn't remember the subject of the conversation or even who she had been talking to. In class, she kept her focus, but sometimes when her guard was down, you could catch her coming back to reality.

She never had a boyfriend in the five years that she'd been here, though many boys had been interested in her. It wasn't that she didn't like boys, but rather that she spoke to them as she would to any other person, never as a potential love interest. She never took part in gossip, never held grudges, and although she would help you through your drama, she never had any of her own.

Slowly, your opinion of her changed. You began to see how the teachers loved her and how she always got good grades. Your parents compared you to her: "_She_ always does well, so why don't you? Her parents tell me that she is very accomplished. She always gets straight A's. She always obeys her parents. So why don't you? She's a much better child than you are."

_She's better than we are._

She's too good for us, you said. She doesn't want to associate with her inferiors.

As you grew up and divided into your various cliques none of you noticed that she belonged to none of them. She who was friend to all had but one loyal friend. She didn't seem to mind. In fact, she didn't seem to notice. She never held it against anyone.

Sometimes, when she was lost in her invisible world, there would be a whisper of a word on the wind, landing on the tip of your tongue only to slip away like a delicate soap bubble:

_Kohaku…_


	2. Who Is He?

_I'll meet you after school today._

That's the thought Chihiro woke up to on this otherwise undistinguishable morning. It stayed with her as she was getting dressed and all through breakfast. As much as she tried, she couldn't shake off the feeling.

_He's coming to see me today._

_But who is he?_

Risuni noticed the spring in her step – she was more animated than Risuni had ever seen her. But as the day proceeded, Chihiro moved more and more slowly, more reluctantly. The morning had dragged on and on, but now that the prospect was so close, she was afraid. She still couldn't shake off the feeling from the morning. It felt like someone was watching, waiting for her. It left a tightness in her heart as if her chest were compressed – it made it hard to breathe. Her mind wandered to her recurring dream. There was a boy in it, and a girl in salmon clothes, and talking frogs, and an old woman in a blue dress, and a word that she couldn't quite remember…

_Kohaku…_

"Chihiro, what's wrong? You were so happy this morning."

"Risuni, can I tell you a secret? My dreams are coming true." Chihiro said dryly, and sighed. "I must be going crazy."

* * *

Outside in a clump of trees, the leaves rustled softly as cloth brushed them again and again. Kohaku had been there for most of the afternoon, waiting for the bell to ring. He paced in the gap between the trees, keeping out of sight. He was a jumble of nerves.

_What if she's not expecting me? What if she doesn't recognize me? What if she's forgotten me?_

_Could she possibly have forgotten? She should've forgotten. The gate makes all who pass through it forget, and she is human. Even if she managed to remember, she might have moved on._

_It's been years, after all. When I made the promise to her she had been a child, and now she's a young woman. All of these years she's had her own life, a life that I've not been a part of. What right do I have to barge into her life now? And what if she remembered? Why have I waited so long? What can I tell her?_

The bell rang. Kohaku moved to stand in the shadow of a tree in the schoolyard, partially hidden from the door, waiting for the students to emerge.

_Why am I even here? But a promise is a promise._

* * *

The bell rang. All the other girls gathered their stuff and headed out the door of the classroom. Chihiro froze in her seat; her pulse was racing.

"Risuni, tell me what you see. I can't look."

Risuni looked out the window. Haku may have chosen an inconspicuous spot, but since it was an all-girls high school and uniforms were required, he stood out. Some of the girls were pointing in his direction and whispering among themselves.

"You're not crazy, there _is_ a guy out there." Risuni whispered in shock. "Does he have pale skin and hair so black it borders on green?"

Chihiro jumped out of her seat and stared out the window where Risuni was pointing. His back was to them and his hair was longer than she expected, but he was wearing the blue hakama that he wore in her dream. She stared until Risuni pulled her away from the window.

"Chihiro, he's waiting for _you_, right?"

Chihiro looked at Risuni, not processing what she had said. Then, she started.

"Right."

She snatched up her bag and flew for the door.

* * *

Haku watched the girls streaming out of the door. They all noticed him. Some of them were openly staring and pointing him out to their friends. He scanned the crowd, looking at the faces, trying to find one that he recognized.

_Maybe she isn't here?_

He felt a pair of eyes from behind him, and turned to look, but the window it had come from was empty. He refocused his attention on the doorway. One of the girls stood out as she wove through the shoal. She didn't look so different from the other girls – they were all wearing the school uniform - but Haku's eyes locked on her. Maybe it was because she had such purpose in her step, or that she was walking straight toward him!


	3. Olive Eyed Stranger

Kohaku looked closely.

It had been five years. She'd grown up, but you could still see the child in her features. Her face had lost some of its roundness to accentuate her cheekbones. Her hair was much longer than before, and she kept it in a low ponytail with the hair tie Zeniiba had given her. She had grown much taller; he could tell that when she stood next to him, she would be half a head shorter than he was.

She walked with the grace of a deer - it seemed she had also outgrown some of her clumsiness that had so amused Lin. It was her eyes that held his attention though. Their color was nothing special, but they were shining as if lit from the inside.

* * *

Chihiro looked up at the boy curiously. His face was quite handsome and seemed strangely familiar, as if he was a song she had heard once long ago. And yet, there was something intrinsically different about him. His eyes were mossy green, a color she had never seen before in eyes, like smooth sun-warmed pebbles…

_This is the boy of my dreams,_ she thought. _No. Not of my dreams. _From_ my dreams. You're crazy, Chihiro._

And there was that word again, that word that she couldn't quite reach, the word that she didn't know the meaning of, but was somehow connected to this boy.

_Kohaku…_

At the same time, they realized that they were gawking at each other, and lowered their gazes. Chihiro realized that _she_ was the one who walked toward _him_, and she wasn't even sure that he had come to see her.

_He has. But how do I know that? Maybe he actually came for one of the other girls and now thinks I'm the rudest girl he's ever met._

She turned to walk away.

"Chihiro..."

_Was that him? How does he know my name?_ She looked at him, confused.

"Have we met before?"

* * *

_So she had forgotten._

Kohaku stayed silent, wanting her to know him, yet wanting her to be happy living a normal human life.

* * *

Chihiro looked at his hesitation in concern.

_That word!_ It kept slipping through her mind.

_Kohaku…_

"Kohaku!" she said suddenly.

He looked up at her wonderingly.

"Kohaku…Is that you?"

"Yes," he said softly.

He looked at her and his eye caught instead the fiercely protective expression of the girl behind Chihiro. It was so similar to the look on Lin's face when she said "If you hurt that girl…" that Kohaku had to smile. Chihiro turned to see Risuni standing there. Risuni worried about her too much, but for once, Chihiro saw where she was coming from. Although she was far from reassured herself, she smiled at Risuni to tell her that it was okay, she'd be fine. Risuni scowled at Kohaku and shot a worried look at Chihiro, but left. The schoolyard was emptying.

"Chihiro," Kohaku said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to walk you home."

Chihiro looked at the olive-eyed stranger and decided to trust him. She nodded.


	4. Just Call Me Haku

_Look what you've gotten yourself into_, Kohaku scolded himself. _What are you going to say? Are you going to tell her this unbelievable story about her parents turning into pigs and her saving them, and saving you? Are you going to tell her that you're a dragon and you promised her that you'd see her again, even though she doesn't remember you? She'll never believe you!_

And then, a softer voice in the back of his mind spoke up. _Are you going to tell her you love her?_

_But this is ridiculous!_ Kohaku argued. _A stranger just doesn't tell a girl he meets that he loves her. And that's what I am now, just a stranger._

_Some guy from my dreams pops up in real life, and here I am letting him walk me home. I'm probably hallucinating right now_, thought Chihiro. _Have I not been getting enough sleep? Exams are next week. What are my parents going to think? But I feel safe with him, somehow._

They walked in comfortable silence for a while. Chihiro came out of her thoughts first.

"Kohaku-san, how do you know my name?"

The honorific didn't do anything for Kohaku's courage.

"Please, Chihiro, just call me…Haku."

Chihiro sensed his inner turmoil. She wanted him to confide in her, to let her help him. She wanted him to be confident and sure like he was supposed to be.

_Supposed to be?_ Surely she couldn't have gotten that from just a few dreams. She scrutinized his face, willing herself to remember, but no, it was gone. There was nothing left but the feeling that this young man was good, and that she was safe with him.

"Chihiro, we were friends once. When we were younger…" Haku trailed off. He had to force himself to keep from saying "don't you remember?" aloud, to keep from sounding desperate and needy.

_She has to be free to choose. You can't beg her to come live with you in the spirit world and solve your problems. How could she solve your problems, anyway?_

It was a short walk to Chihiro's house from her school, and by this time, the house was within sight. Haku had to exert all of his self-control not to take Chihiro's hand the way he wanted to. He had missed her more than he was willing to admit, and now that his promise had been kept, he had no reason to come back.

Chihiro didn't want to leave, either. She found herself drawn to this attractive stranger. His mystery intrigued her. She wanted to know more about him, and she felt a sudden urge to fling her arms around him. She suppressed that urge. _Don't be stupid. You don't even know who he is!_

_Yes, I do. _

_No, you don't! And Chihiro, since when did you start feeling this way about boys, anyway?_

_Since now._

_Don't be stupid._

Haku walked Chihiro to the door, and they stood there for what seemed like a long time. Chihiro finally couldn't help herself.

"So…Haku. Will I see you again?"

Haku stared. _Is she inviting me back into her life, without even knowing who I am? _

The last two times they'd met, she had needed him, and so he knew what had to be done. But now, what did he want? He wanted her to remember him, but was that what was good for her? She looked so hopeful…

"Tomorrow?"

_What am I doing, _thought Chihiro.

"Okay."

* * *

"Who was that you were talking to outside?" Chihiro's mother smiled at her, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh, just a friend." She had never brought boys home before. Still, she knew her parents were unlikely to believe her. It didn't matter. They probably thought it was a phase she was going through.

"Mother, did I ever have a friend named Kohaku? When I was little?"

"A friend?" Her mother thought for a while. "No, I don't think so, but the name sounds really familiar."

Just then, Chihiro's father came in.

"Honey, does the name 'Kohaku' sound familiar to you?"

"That is the name of the river that ran by our old house. We had so many picnics there, Chihiro, remember? You even fell in once. They filled it in a long time ago, though, maybe that's why you've forgotten. Why do you ask?"

Both parents turned their eyes on her.

"No reason…"


	5. Humans Never Forget

Haku lay awake staring at his ceiling as thoughts chased each other around his mind. To his human vision, the ceiling disappeared in the darkness and his room seemed to extend upward forever. He hadn't felt so lost and confused since his river was filled in more than five years ago – he didn't know what to do with himself. He had acted stupidly on that occasion, and allowed himself to be bound under Yubaba's spell. _I can't let myself make such a mistake again._ That time, Kamaji, the boiler man, had warned him about Yubaba's power, Kamaji who risked Yubaba's wrath to help Chihiro and adopted her as his granddaughter, who loves Chihiro. _Like me_.

Haku didn't want to disturb the others sleeping. He opened the paneled doors that led outside from his room, and flew to the outer wall of the bathhouse. Aburaya shone with moonlight in his dragon sight. The wood-grain of each step was as clear as if it were day. He used to revel in the pre-dawn grey. In these few minutes the world turns black and white in exquisite simplicity. He lit upon the landing at the base of the back stairs and silently opened the door to the boiler room, where Kamaji was already gently snoring in his usual place by the furnace. He shook the old spider spirit gently. "Kamaji," Haku whispered. "Grandfather."

"Ehhh?" Kamaji opened his eyes groggily at Haku. "Haku? You're here?" He took a closer look. "What's the matter?"

"I went to see Chihiro. She didn't completely forget me."

Kamaji saw the plea in Haku's eyes. He knew what it took for Haku to ask for help from anyone. _Poor kid. All those memories pent up for so long. _He placed a hand on Haku's shoulder.

"She loved you, Haku. Humans never completely forget the ones they love," and then quietly, almost as an afterthought, "and spirits, well, if we love at all, never stop loving."

Haku knew then, that Kamaji knew. _What makes you think I love her?_ Then, _is it that obvious? Does that mean it's okay to love her?_ He couldn't bring himself to reply, only to nod once, slowly. Kamaji understood him far too well. It wasn't until after that Haku realized he had admitted his love with the nod.

* * *

The train rumbled under Chihiro as the light outside the window dimmed. Meadows and trees rushed past. Her friends slept on her lap but she sat stiffly, showing no sign of tiredness. Adrenaline and determination filled her – she couldn't afford to miss her stop. _The sixth stop. For Haku. _

Chihiro felt something old and rusty in the water. It was so familiar. She pulled at it. _A bicycle?_

_Haku! He's going to take me to my parents. _He pulled her along by the hand and they ran through fruit trees and down the hill to a pigpen. _You must never come here without me, understand?_

And Haku held her while she cried because she was lost, she didn't know what to do, and telling her she should eat, it would make her feel better. _It'll be alright._

She was standing at a window and there was Haku again, this time older, standing with his back to her under the tree on her school grounds. He turned to face her. Even though he was too far away to hear, she could tell what he was saying to her. "Don't you remember?" he said.

Chihiro woke up. She grasped at her dreams, but they were already on their way to where all dreams go. There was a train, and a pigpen...Haku was definitely in there, too. His voice echoed softly in her head from the last scene. _Don't you remember? _There was sadness in that voice, but the real Haku hadn't sounded that way at all. _I get to see him again today. _Her heart jumped a little. For some reason that thought made her happy.

When she got to school, Risuni was waiting at the gate. _That's strange,_ thought Chihiro. Risuni relaxed visibly when she saw Chihiro.

"Oh good, you're okay. I was so worried! He wasn't a creep or anything, was he?"

"No, he was fine. He just walked me home. We didn't even talk much." Chihiro started into the schoolyard.

"Wait, Chihiro-!" Risuni sighed.

Chihiro was suddenly surrounded by girls talking at her. She could barely see Risuni's resigned look behind all of their heads.

"Chihiro! Who was that yesterday?"

"Yeah, did he come to pick you up?"

"Ooh, Chihiro! I never thought you were that kind of girl!"

The voices all started to blend together; Chihiro couldn't tell who was saying what, much less answer.

"What's his name?"

"You're so lucky, Chihiro! He's so cute!"

"Is he your boyfriend, Chihiro?"

"What's so special about him that he managed to get _Chihiro_? When she's turned everyone else down?"

"Well, he's cute!"

"Well yeah, but did you see those _clothes_? When was he born, the eighteenth century?"

"Maybe that's what Chihiro goes for." They all laughed.

Chihiro couldn't get away. She stood there, bewildered, as they giggled and called out to her and speculated amongst themselves. Mercifully, the bell rang, and as quickly as they'd come, the gaggle of girls moved toward the door and left Chihiro and Risuni behind.

"I was going to warn you," Risuni smiled at Chihiro's expression. "All of a sudden you're so popular," Risuni teased.

But they both knew it wasn't true. After all, most of those girls hadn't so much as said "hi" to Chihiro in the last year.

Chihiro sighed. This was going to be complicated. "Risuni," she said as they walked toward the door. "He's coming again today."


	6. I Promise You, You're Not Crazy

Chihiro could see Haku out of the corner of her eye, just a flash of black hair and white cloth billowing at the edge of the window frame. He was standing by the same tree as the day before. She and Risuni had agreed she would have to leave and get him out of sight as soon as possible to avoid the attention of the other girls. There was a minute to go by her watch, but she didn't dare put her books away. It would disrespect Sato-sensei. She ran over the sequence of actions that would get her out of the room as soon as class was dismissed, and tried to calm down.

The bell rang.

"Thank you, students."

The class rose. "Thank you, Sato-sensei."

Chihiro swept her books into her bag, flipped her chair onto her desk, and flew out the door. _Thank goodness I don't have cleaning duty today. _She stopped running at the main gate, and tried to walk at a normal pace and slow her breathing.

_I'm just trying to get away from the girls. I'm not running toward him. I don't really know him. I'm not running toward him, I'm just walking nicely. I don't like him. I don't even know him. I can't like someone I don't know. Do you hear me, Chihiro? I don't know him!_

She reached Haku just as the first of the other girls reached the door. She gestured politely toward the gate, but they had only taken a few steps when she heard a shout behind her from the door.

"Have fun with your boyfriend, Chihiro! See you tomorrow!"

_Boyfriend? He's not my boyfriend! I don't even know him! How can he be my boyfriend? Now he probably thinks I told all of those girls about him, and that I'm just using him to be popular. Besides, there's no way he would like me. _

_He _is_ walking you home. Besides, you know you like him. Doesn't that make you feel a little bit happy inside? _

_But…but...but…but I don't know him! And what must he think of me now?_

Chihiro's face burned, and she looked down to hide it, but she didn't respond.

_Boyfriend? _thought Haku, looking at Chihiro. _Does she mean me? That's ridiculous, no wonder she's embarrassed. It's a scandalous thing to say. I haven't even met her family yet! It's not proper. And yet…_A warm feeling kindled somewhere inside at the thought of Chihiro being his girlfriend.

Thankfully, Haku didn't know how to reply. He just wanted to take her hand and tell her it's okay, let them gossip. _But she knows that already, _he thought, and they didn't speak until the gate was out of sight.

On the side of the road, Chihiro suddenly stopped and faced Haku. "I apologize for my classmate's words," she said, and bowed.

_No, don't apologize. I know it's not your fault. I know you, I love you. Why are you distancing yourself from me?_

"Chihiro…"

He placed a hand on her arm to comfort her and her hand slipped into his. For a moment, it seemed they were children again. A look of recognition gleamed in her eyes, too, briefly, and then it passed. She looked confused, but didn't take her hand away.

"Haku, can you explain some things for me?"

"Yes, Chihiro?"

"Why do I feel like I know you, but that I've never seen you before in my life?"

Haku led her by the hand and they walked off the road as Chihiro kept talking.

"If you really are my childhood friend, why don't I remember you? How do you know what school I go to? How do you have time to come walk me home every day? Don't you have school? Don't you think that's a little creepy? And this will sound crazy, but why do you have the same name as a river that I once used to picnic by?"

Haku didn't answer. He led her to a small stone bench and sat down beside her, still holding her hand.

Chihiro bit her lip. Everything had just spilled out. She didn't mean to accuse him, and she didn't want him to get offended and leave.

"Chihiro, I promise you, you're not crazy. I can't explain everything to you-"

"But-" Chihiro made to protest, but Haku put a finger to her mouth, and continued.

"I can only say that we didn't have very much time to get to know each other, and it _was_ a long time ago, more than five years, but we had become very good friends. _Should I have said friends? I don't know if 'friends' is the right word. I'm sure she felt it too, back then, but she doesn't remember now. What if she never remembers?_ I promised you when you had to leave that we would see each other again."

"Sometimes I dream about the time we were friends, I think. In those dreams, you were very kind to me. But when I wake up, it just fades away, and I can never remember what happens."

The words just flooded out again, and she couldn't stop them from coming. She'd been dreaming about this for years and years.

"And Haku, the dreams don't make any sense! I never remember being in any of the places. I don't know any of the people that keep appearing. And they're such strange people. And we were flying, but that's impossible!"

Haku's heart sank. _She thinks that's impossible. _He reluctantly gave Chihiro's hand back to her, and stood up.

"It's okay if you don't remember me, Chihiro."

She stood up as well. He put both hands on her shoulders, holding her there, and held her gaze.

"Don't worry about it," he said firmly.

"But-"

Haku was already walking toward the road.

"But I don't want to forget about you."

_I don't want you to forget about me either._

_But I'm being selfish. She can't go back to the spirit world with me; she would just forget everything when she leaves again. She's a human, and she belongs in the human world. Why can't she just move on, and then she can live happily and not worry about me, and I would have to let her? Everything would be so much easier._

Haku sighed.

_Why has the world changed? Once, the human world and the spirit world were overlaid. Back when the humans still cared. It wasn't unusual then for spirits to interact with humans. But the humans are slowly driving the spirits out, and there are very few places left where a spirit can live safely in the human world. Gates like the one Chihiro stumbled upon five years ago were built to keep the spirit world safe from human destruction. She does not belong there. A human living in the Spirit World? That would completely defeat the purpose of the gate. Surely it's forbidden. _

_Besides, her parents would be worried._

"You won't forget about me if you don't want to." Haku spoke more abruptly than he'd meant to.

_Please remember me. _

They walked silently to her house and up her walk, Chihiro trailing slightly behind.

"Haku, tomorrow…" Chihiro began, then trailed off. She didn't want to ask, but he already knew.

"Chihiro, you're right. I can't come every day just to walk you home. Maybe next week, alright?"

Chihiro tried not to look disappointed, but Haku wasn't fooled. He hated seeing her unhappy. It reminded him too much of when she had lost her parents, and it hurt him. She looked away.

"Chihiro, listen," Haku said gently. "Where did you get the hair tie you're wearing? Think about it for me."

* * *

Chihiro's parents looked up when she walked in the door.

"Chihiro, where have you been?"

"I was talking to my friend," replied Chihiro, knowing that her parents would take this as further evidence that they were dating. Her parents smiled knowingly at each other, but this had long since ceased to infuriate Chihiro.

"What's his name?" her mother asked with a smile. Chihiro mentally rolled her eyes at her parents' expressions.

"It's Haku."


	7. Good Luck, Chihiro!

The next week was a blur for Chihiro. She tried her best to pay attention in school – the winter term was coming to a close and exams were approaching, she couldn't afford to daydream and fall behind in school - but afternoons still dragged on as she couldn't stop herself from thinking of Haku. When the bell rang to signify the end of the school day each day, she looked for Haku under the tree in the front, and each day, she was disappointed. After school, she would study late into the night until she was exhausted, sometimes until she fell asleep at her desk. Her future depended on her doing well.

Before she went to bed every night, she stared at her hair tie. As hard as she tried, she couldn't remember where she had gotten it. _Did Haku give it to me? Is that why he asked me to think about it? _She wore it every day, and she had never needed anything else. Her friends and parents always bought her hair things, but they sat in a small drawer, still in their packaging, untouched. Her dreams offered no hints as to the hair tie's origins or to who Haku was. Perhaps due to all the pressure from school and the upcoming exams, her only dreams were of being chased by some unseen monster. Haku's face floated in and out of her dreams, but they were Haku as he looked now, and she didn't remember anything that might have happened before. Often, she was so tired that she didn't dream at all.

At first, the other girls had badgered her about Haku whenever they could. It made it difficult to tell Risuni anything without being overheard. When a few days passed and Haku didn't show up, the others lost interest. Chihiro was grateful for exams; even the juiciest gossip couldn't distract her classmates for long. Once the girls went back to ignoring her and Risuni, they were able to talk quietly during lunch and after school. Chihiro told Risuni everything that had happened and that Haku had said. Chihiro knew that no matter how ridiculous and unrealistic the story got, Risuni would never make fun of her. Risuni was still suspicious of Haku, but she knew that she couldn't stop Chihiro from trusting him.

It was Risuni's opinion that Chihiro trusted far too easily, yet nothing bad had ever come of it. It was like Chihiro instinctively knew whether people were good or bad. Either that, or she had this magical quality that made the people she met benevolent toward her. Unfortunately, Risuni couldn't help Chihiro remember. The only thing Risuni knew was this: the sparkly purple hair tie was the only one she had ever seen Chihiro wear.

* * *

Chihiro was running down the stairs as quickly as she could, turning barely in time to avoid crashing into the walls. The smashing noises were right behind her, she had to get away. She ran down the next flight of steps, and the next, grabbing the banister to turn. She looked back at him, the masked monster chasing her. He was catching up! She ran through crowds that screamed and scattered to get away from the monster, but the monster wasn't interested in them. He was only after Chihiro.

Then the dream ended.

Chihiro woke up, confused. She had been running away in her dreams a lot lately, in all sorts of situations. This dream seemed different.

_I wasn't panicked_, she thought, _I was preoccupied_. _I knew I could get away. And getting away wasn't the most important thing in the dream; there was something else I had to do…something I wish I could just put my finger on. And that monster, he was harmless_. _He was scary, and he could hurt me. I just knew that he wouldn't. It wasn't his fault he was a monster._

Chihiro got out of bed. Haku's comment about the hair tie had left her at a loss. She opened the drawer of unused hair things and saw that under the jumble was a small piece of paper. It was a card given to her from her old friend, Rumi, when they had left their old home. "Good luck, Chihiro. We'll meet again." it said. Chihiro stared at the card. It was very important, _but why?_


	8. Zeniiba

The windows rattled loudly, and then the wind died down as suddenly as it came. The door creaked quietly open.

"Haku," called Zeniiba. "You're home just in time for dinner."

Haku didn't reply, only closed the door behind him and surveyed the room. Zeniiba was carrying a large plate of food to the long wooden table and smiling at him. Kaonashi was already seated at the table set for three, gesturing for Haku to join him. Haku nodded, and sat down distractedly. He ate in silence and thanked Zeniiba, then disappeared into his room without a word.

* * *

Haku stood in his room and stared out across the water into the moonlit forest through the paneled doors. He was exhausted - crossing to the human world was draining, and he would have to rest before attempting a third crossing - but he wasn't ready to rest yet, there was too much on his mind.

Finally making a decision, he opened the doors and walked determinedly to the spring behind the house. He waded into the middle of the pool and sat cross-legged on the water, his palms face-down on the shining surface at his sides. He closed his eyes and reached within himself with his mind, pulling out a thin silver strand. As he gathered it into his hands, liquid light spread from each palm and settled onto the surface of the spring around him like the reflection of a great moon. The light spread like ripples, with Haku at its center. Gradually, the water rose around Haku to surround him with a smooth wall, glistening and crystalline in the moonlight. Haku only saw this in his mind's eye. He sensed the shape of the water and covering every molecule of it in the silver liquid that was his power and coaxed it higher, to surround him. He envisioned a cocoon for the water with himself in the middle, like a mold for the water to fill.

Images flooded through Haku as the spring filled his consciousness. He saw the rocky bottom and the tiny creatures that lived in the cracks there. He tasted the minerals that were dissolved in the water, felt the bubbles from below the earth disturbing the spring at the fissures. He felt the moon's pull that caused the slight ebb of the tide. And then his mind was filled with different images, not of the spring, but of his memories. Grasses the color of his hair lined the bottom of this water, and small fish swam among them. Under the rocks there lived crabs and the occasional turtle. Leaves covered the surface, and then ice. His river sustained life, providing nutrients, and it was warm with the sun and life-giving oxygen, not this cold and unforgiving calcium and stinking sulfur. It laughed as it skipped along and tripped down small waterfalls like a child, and it was so comfortable, so right.

The weight of loss pressed on him as he tried to raise the wall higher, but now his mind rejected his magical handling of the water. It was too like and too different from his river, the amber river which would never be his home again.

As if sensing his reluctance, the water fought his control. It refused to obey this master, this master that doesn't listen and doesn't want it. Haku was already exhausted from crossing to the human world twice in succession, but he wasn't ready to give up yet. He tried again to force the water higher with his mind and tried to block out the memories, but grief swept over him and it took away his willpower. Without it, he had no strength. The wall of water collapsed back into the pool with a splash, and the silver light dissipated. Haku opened his eyes to stand up again, and stumbled when his feet touched the bottom of the pool. The liquid no longer supported him. The water left his clothes as he went, preferring to stay in the pool rather than to cling to this scornful master. He dragged himself back to the house and staggered through the paneled doors to his room. He lay on his bed, trembling with fatigue and remembering.

His river had been beautiful; he had known its every drop of water and every stone. He had been a part of the life of every fish and shrimp and tadpole that had lived there, had rejoiced at their births and grieved for their deaths. The water had moved with his thoughts – it was the easiest thing in the world. He had memories of Chihiro and her family picnicking on his banks, and of her voice, her laughter. She had fallen in on one of these outings, and he had carried her back to her parents. When the humans filled in his river, they had killed some part of him. Still, he had never expected this. He had never had a chance to exercise his water magic while he had worked at the bathhouse; he had forgotten he had it. Instead he had learned spells from Yubaba, spells that any magical being could use with practice, spells that still smelled alien to him sometimes. It wasn't until Zeniiba suggested he take care of her spring, a spring she had created and had no guardian spirit, that he realized his power was mostly gone. It had been a painful five years of practice to even get to this point, because every time he tried, his grief overwhelmed him.

* * *

Zeniiba watched Haku working from the window. He had been out there almost every day for five years, yet each day was a struggle. His heart had not accepted the spring as home; he was still attached to his river. She watched him stagger to bed and sighed.

Just then, a fleet shadow darted across the moon, catching her attention. Then another, and another. To a human, these shadows would simply look like a flock of geese migrating in a V, but Zeniiba had met spirits like this before. Swan geese are rare in Japan and swan geese spirits even rarer. _Something must be wrong for me to see them here_, she thought, and her suspicions were confirmed almost immediately. As she watched, one of the goose spirits faltered and dropped. Four others dove to help their injured sister, and flew back to the flock supporting the goose with their backs and necks. They flew on out of sight, toward Aburaya.


	9. Haku's Pride

Haku abruptly regained consciousness just before daybreak, all drowsiness banished by the massive powerful presence of the sun just below the horizon. He slid open the paneled doors and flew, once again, to the bathhouse, and let himself in to the boiler room. Kamaji was getting ready to go to sleep, but he didn't look surprised to see Haku.

"Haku," said Kamaji in his hoarse voice, smiling, "tell me about how my granddaughter is doing."

Haku described the way Chihiro had grown and what her home and school were like. Kamaji couldn't keep the grin off his face. He looked as happy and proud as if Chihiro were his real granddaughter.

"But she can't seem to remember anything. She knew my name, and she tells me that she dreams about this place, but they're wisps and they're just out of reach…Grandfather, how can I get her to remember?"

Kamaji looked at Haku. "It's a powerful magic that made her forget, Haku. I don't have that kind of power," he said in his grave voice. "You should ask Zeniiba. She would be able to help you."

Haku felt Kamaji's slightly disapproving look through his black glasses, and felt ashamed.

* * *

Haku flew back toward Swamp Bottom, his long white tail streaming behind him riding the waves of wind. When he had quit his apprenticeship and couldn't wait to get out of the bathhouse, Kamaji was the only one he had said good-bye to before he left. Lin had cornered him in the hall – _You still owe me one, Haku. You better take care of yourself or I'll never get that favor – _and he had pretended to brush it off, but Haku was pleased that she cared. Then, too, Kamaji had told him to see Zeniiba. Kamaji had trusted Zeniiba ever since Chihiro came back from Swamp Bottom unharmed.

"Zeniiba would let you stay with her," Kamaji had said.

But Haku had disagreed. "Don't worry about me," he had replied. "I'll be fine. I'm free." And so, he had flown off, enjoying the sunshine on his scales and the freedom to be awake during the day and go wherever he pleased. It wasn't until night fell that Haku realized he had nowhere to go. His river was gone, and now so was the bathhouse. He was unwilling to admit that he needed help, and especially not from Yubaba's twin sister, so he just coiled up under a tree in his dragon form to sleep.

Haku remembered only a few days of this – wandering around during the day, sporadically flying, sleeping outside in any kind of sheltered spot at night. After the first day, he grew bored of this newfound 'freedom', and after three, had begun to despair. He had nowhere to go and nothing to do. He had no purpose. Those first few days he thought about finding Chihiro and seeing how she was doing at her new school. He sometimes even dreamed that she would take him in, but with no physical manifestation in the human world, he could not cross the barrier, though he tried many times. The gate wouldn't let him through, and when he flew high above it, he would hit an invisible wall.

The first time this happened, he hovered before it, eyes wide in amazement, and probed it with his claws, feeling a barrier smooth as glass, but his whiskers moved with wind coming from the other side. The human side. He flew along this wall for days, looking for a break or just a weakness, and found none.

In his frustration and despair he threw himself against the wall over and over, until he shook with pain and exhaustion. His usually immaculate scales were battered and some were torn, his mane became matted, his eyes dulled. He had nothing to eat and became too weak to hunt, but he didn't care. The only thing that kept him alive was the thought of his promise to Chihiro, and how he had to keep it. Soon, he no longer had the strength even to fly. Days blurred into each other. He walked until he collapsed, slept where and when he stumbled, and woke only to walk again.

Then there was a period of darkness in his memory.

His walking must have taken him to Swamp Bottom, because when he woke up, he was in a bed – the same bed he sleeps in now – and Zeniiba had come in with a bowl of miso soup and medicine. He was confined to his bed and then to his room for a week, and could not transform or fly for a month; he just didn't have the strength. All this time, Zeniiba took care of him and fed him and cleaned him. It had hurt his pride to have ended up there. He had tried to leave, but Zeniiba had been firm in him staying. She was right. He was too weak to take care of himself.

When Haku was finally up and about, he wanted to work for his keep. It didn't feel right to accept so much from one for nothing. Zeniiba had suggested that he care for the spring that she had created behind her house.

"The spring is the source of water for all of Swamp Bottom," Zeniiba told Haku. "You can exercise your magic there, and you might find it interesting."

And so he had learned the flow of the water and explored the spring, but try as he might, he couldn't get the water to obey him. The spring flowed well with clean water, but it wasn't anything special. There was none of Haku's power in the water – he could only do what anyone who knows water could do. He didn't embody the water. He couldn't understand it, and it frustrated him.

He was a good guest. He made sure that Zeniiba never had to carry water to the house. After he had regained some of his magic and introduced himself to the spring water, he asked the water to help keep Zeniiba's house clean. The spring water had agreed, but Haku knew it was more for Zeniiba's sake than his.

Then one day, Haku found the source of the spring. He followed it deep underground as a dragon, exploring it and widening the cracks as he went. The water grew hot and pressed in on his scales, squeezing him, but it was water, and it did not hurt him. There was one spot where the tunnel shrank and the current was so concentrated that the water blasted him away from the opening in the tunnel. It did not care that he was a dragon, a spirit of water, it fought to keep him away. The opening was so small that he could barely fit, and the current became stronger the closer he came, buffeting at his body. Finally, after many failures and many visits, Haku went through to the other side.

Haku exited the tunnel into a shining lake, where everything was subtly different. The air tasted funny, with the faint tang of metal and smoke. The water had slightly too much nitrogen. The stars were fainter, and the moon orange as it rose.

He was on the human side of the barrier.

Haku had to rest for a night before attempting the return trip, but it wasn't as difficult as he had feared. The current was eager to return him to the spirit world.

* * *

Haku flew on. He took a deep breath with the weight of determination. _I can't let my pride get in my way anymore. It's about time I talked with Zeniiba._

* * *

That night, Haku watched Zeniiba's knitting needles flash before the fire. They reminded him of the scales of fish flitting through his river, glinting with reflected sunlight. "Zeniiba, do you think Chihiro will ever remember me?"

Zeniiba looked up from her knitting at Haku and smiled. She had been waiting for Haku to open up to her all this time. She motioned for him to pull up a chair. Haku seated himself.

"Chihiro hasn't really forgotten you. Once you meet someone, you never really forget them. In fact, I told Chihiro the same thing when she was here, trying to help you."

She stopped to count her stitches, and then continued. Haku noticed that Zeniiba was not as relaxed as she seemed. Her words were filling with some kind of passion.

"The spell on the North Gate banishes memories to the realm of dreams and seals them there, so the humans are never sure if their memories are real or figments of imagination. The human world today is mundane enough that the events from the dreams are unbelievable, impossible, and that's enough to keep them away. Humans will go to any lengths to disbelieve the impossible, even to the point of believing they're crazy."

She looked up at Haku.

"For her to remember you, she has to believe in you."


	10. Reputation

It was exam week – a frantic, panicked seven days where they would be tested on everything they had learned this year – and then school would be out for one glorious week until the next school year. According to the sakura front forecast, Hanami would fall on the first Sunday of break. Everyone would bring baskets of food to the park and picnic under the delicate pink blooms. Chihiro looked forward to the break from studying, and for once, to enjoy Hanami without the prospect of exams hanging over her head.

_And just maybe, I'll get to spend more time with Haku than just walking home from school. _The very thought of it made her heart beat faster. _But I can't think about him now, _she reminded herself sternly. _I can't _afford_ to think about him now. Not on the first day of exams._

Math was the first exam of the day, and the most difficult for Chihiro. Math just didn't come naturally for her, nor did she enjoy it, and as a result, it was even harder for her to force her mind away from thoughts of Haku. She had prepared herself well, though, and all those sleepless nights paid off. She was soon into the rhythm of exams. Her focus had been trained by years of testing.

* * *

When Chihiro put down her pencil for the last time that day, her mind was buzzing with algebraic equations and significant dates in Japanese history. One of the students collected all the test papers and brought them to the teacher's desk as everyone else packed up. Chihiro stacked her chair on her desk and went to erase the blackboard – after school, everyone had to help put the classroom in order – but the teacher beckoned to her from her desk instead. Chihiro walked over. Was there something wrong with her exam?

"Sato-sensei," Chihiro said, bobbing her head politely.

Mrs. Sato looked over her silver-rimmed glasses at Chihiro. "Ogino-chan, some of the girls have told me that a boy came to see you after school last week," she said sternly. "You know how that reflects on the reputation of our school."

Chihiro gaped, then flushed and looked at her feet.

Sato-sensei lowered her voice, so that the other girls couldn't hear. "Ogino-chan, I know that you're a good student and that you don't like to cause trouble, so I won't say anything to the administration. Whether or not it's true, don't even let people suspect that you're involved in something like this. It will ruin your future, and you have a lot of potential."

Chihiro nodded. "Yes, Sato-sensei."

She gathered her stuff in her bag and headed toward the classroom door, where Risuni was waiting for her. She was just about to reach it when she heard one of the girls calling from behind Risuni.

"Chihiro, your boyfriend's outside," she mocked. "Do you always keep him waiting?"

Chihiro caught a worried look on Mrs. Sato's face, and left. Risuni glared at the girl in the hall.

_Haku._

* * *

_I was so caught up in exams that I'd almost forgotten. _

Haku had been waiting for a while. The stream of girls leaving the school had slowed and almost stopped, and he had not seen Chihiro. He noticed that few of the girls had left to go home; most stayed in the schoolyard, clustered and whispering, waiting to see what would happen. Chihiro finally appeared at the door and her gaze immediately fell on Haku. She strode toward him.

_She doesn't look very happy to see me_.

Chihiro put a hand on his elbow and nearly dragged him to the gate.

"Chihiro, what's the matter?" But he got no answer. "Are you angry with me?"

"CHEE-HEE-ROOOOE! Are you guys fighting?" There was laughter behind them, and it spread around the schoolyard until they were in a sea of raucous crows. Haku could almost see the feathers.

And then, there was a sharp retort. "Shut up, you nasty gossips!"

_Thank you, Risuni,_ Chihiro thought.

It wasn't until they had passed the school gate that Chihiro was willing to talk.

"It's not that I don't like seeing you, Haku, but you're ruining my reputation," she sighed. She didn't seem angry. "It's not that I care very much about my reputation, either, but I don't want to make trouble for the school and Sato-sensei. You just don't seem to know what's normal. You dress like you lived a hundred years ago. Don't you know that it's not okay for you to just show up at my school?"

Haku was bewildered. "It's not?"

Chihiro shook her head. "No. People naturally assume we're dating and we're far too young. It's not proper." Chihiro looked at Haku curiously. "How come you don't know this? Where do you come from anyway?"

Haku looked pained. "You know I can't-"

"Tell me the truth, Haku."

*Hanami is the Japanese cherry-blossom viewing festival.


	11. The Truth

At that moment, there was a violent screech behind them and a car came barreling out of a side path toward them. They spun around just as the driver saw them. There was another loud screech of brakes and a desperate BEEEEEEE of the horn. Chihiro saw the driver's horrified expression and realized that he was going too fast. Haku froze.

_He's never seen a car before. _

Chihiro threw herself at Haku, pushing him out of the way of the rampaging car. Haku snapped out of his shock at the sudden contact, and training-honed instinct kicked in. He slapped the ground and rolled, pulling Chihiro with him out of the road. The car screeched to a halt, leaving black tire marks where they had stood a moment before.

The driver left his car in the middle of the road and ran towards them. The two children were tangled in a heap on the ground. Haku sat up. Aside from a few smears of dirt on his clothes, he was fine. He pulled Chihiro into a sitting position. She looked dazed and had a few scrapes, but didn't seem hurt. Haku took her arm and checked for injuries, carefully moving her fingers, wrist, then elbow and shoulder, before starting the other side.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" The driver frantically babbled something about taking them to the hospital.

Haku wasn't listening – his attention was all on Chihiro. Her eyes were a bit unfocused. _Does she have a concussion?_ Haku thought doubtfully. He gently probed her scalp with his fingers. _There isn't any blood…_

_The old amusement park, Mom said some people believe little spirits live there. The bridge. Haku yelling. "It's almost night! Leave before it gets dark!" Mom and Dad turned into pigs. The shadows are alive, they're everywhere. The river. The boat. Disappearing. Haku holding me, giving me food, taking my hand and running through a storehouse and the pigpens to the bridge, telling me to hold my breath, flying, hiding, telling me how to find Kamaji and get a job._

_Kamaji. How could I have forgotten Kamaji? He's my grandfather. And the soot balls, even they were kind to me. And Yubaba. And Zeniiba, my granny. Lin. Scrubbing the big tub. The river god. Kaonashi. The bathhouse. Flying with Haku. Swamp Bottom. The train ride. Boh. Haku flying. Haku hurt. Haku taking me to see my parents. Haku saying that he didn't remember his name but he remembered mine. Haku saying good-bye, that he promised we'd see each other again. Haku. Haku. Haku. I remember._

Haku put his hands on Chihiro's shoulders and looked into her eyes, searching for her. "Chihiro," he whispered urgently. "Chihiro, are you alright?" He shook her gently.

Chihiro's vision slowly focused on Haku. _He's worried about me again,_ she thought. She wanted to hug him, but her ears picked up the still-panicked voice of the driver. She looked up.

"I'm fine," she said, hoping her voice was steady. She _wasn't_ fine - her mind was still reeling from the memories clamoring for her attention, she just wanted the reckless driver to leave – but she must've sounded fine because the driver gave one more bow of apology, and then hurried back to his car.

Chihiro watched him drive away, and then looked at Haku. "I remember you," she said softly. Haku looked at her disheveled hair and dirt-smeared face and smiled. He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her gently, letting her rest a moment against his chest.

* * *

Chihiro opened the door to her house. Her mother looked up.

"Chihiro, where have- What happened to you?" She took in Chihiro's dirty clothes and scrapes.

"I nearly got hit by a car on the way home." Chihiro pulled Haku through the door behind her.

"Oh my gosh, you got hit by a car?" Yuuko Ogino rushed over to look at Chihiro.

"I said _almost._"

"Are you hurt? What happened?" She started to examine some of the scrapes on Chihiro's knees.

"Mom, I'm _fine,_" Chihiro protested, but it had no effect. "_Mom!_"

Chihiro's dad came out of an adjacent room. "Honey, Chihiro says she's fine." He put a hand on Yuuko to restrain her. "And her _friend_ is here." He emphasized the word 'friend.' Yuuko finally stopped fussing over Chihiro.

"Mom, this is my _friend_ Haku. He pulled me out of the way."

The two of them were a strange sight. Chihiro was wearing her school uniform: a blue pleated skirt, a collared t-shirt, and white stockings. Haku had on a white over-shirt, blue hakama, and simple bamboo sandals. The only thing they had in common was that everything was now streaked with dirt.

Yuuko Ogino stood up and bowed slightly to Haku. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter," she said.

"Of course, Ogino-sama." Haku bowed deeper and longer than Yuuko, showing his respect. "Ogino-sama." He bowed to Akio, also.

"It's nice to meet you, kid. Would you like to stay for dinner?" Chihiro grimaced at this insensitivity from her father.

"No, thank you," Haku replied. "My grandmother is expecting me." Chihiro shot him a questioning look. Haku smiled back infuriatingly, without indicating an answer.

"Chihiro," said her mother, leaving the room. "You should change out of those clothes. I'll wash them for you." Chihiro's father also left, and went back to what he had been doing.

"Okay, Mom." Typical Mom; of course she would be concerned for my _clothes_. Chihiro turned to Haku. "Your grandmother?" she whispered.

"I've been staying with Zeniiba."

Chihiro smiled broadly at the memory of Zeniiba. Then her mind snapped back to practical matters, and she groaned inside. "Haku, I've still got exams the rest of the week. I won't have time until they're over. But next week I won't have school."

"Hanami will be Sunday. Why don't you visit me then? I'll come and get you, and you can celebrate with us. Everyone will be so happy to see you. Even Yubaba will be in a good mood."

"My parents should be fine with that." Chihiro grinned. "As long as my grades are good, I don't think they'll care."

Haku smiled, and left.

Akio poked his head out of the room. "He's such a nice kid."


	12. Back At Last

Usually, exam week was a blur for Chihiro, as each day the tests challenged her to her utmost mental capability, leaving her exhausted and ready for bed by the time she finished dinner. This time, however, Chihiro found that she had so much nervous energy that her hands shook whenever she picked up her pencil. When she was not taking a test, time skidded to a halt, and she couldn't stop moving. Sometimes she found herself laughing hysterically at the things Risuni said. She burned so many calories twitching all day that she was starving way before meals. It was a good thing that her jumpiness burned so much energy, though, that she crashed every night, for with thoughts of spending Hanami with Haku crossing her mind every few minutes, she wouldn't have been able to sleep at all. During the tests themselves, Chihiro had to employ every ounce of self-control she possessed to focus.

In this way, exam week passed and Saturday finally arrived. For better or for worse, the school year was over.

* * *

"Mom?"

"What is it, Chihiro?"

"May I go celebrate Hanami with Haku tomorrow?" _Please please please please please?_

"Really, Chihiro, everyone in town will be at the picnic. You always look forward to it. Are you sure you want to miss it?" _And what will everyone say if you're not there?_

"But I've had to focus so much on exams I haven't had time to talk to Haku at all lately. I want to see how his town celebrates Hanami. He said that they always do something really special."

Yuuko Ogino frowned at her daughter. "Chihiro, I really don't think-" but Akio, who had been listening from his office, stepped in.

"Let her go, honey," he said.

"But will she be safe? She's too young to be going far, and we don't really know anything about this Haku," Yuuko protested. "We don't know where he lives and we haven't met his parents, and…"

_Let's not talk about that. Please just let me go. I have the grades; I've been responsible for this long; please, please, please…_

"She'll be fine, don't worry." Akio patted Chihiro on the shoulder. "She's a big girl now. She can take care of herself."

"Alright honey, if you're sure," Yuuko agreed reluctantly.

_That was much easier than I thought it would be_, thought Chihiro, beaming. Yuuko always listened to Akio in the end.

* * *

Haku had invited Chihiro to the Spirit World, but his words had been rash. He figured that the gate had let her in before, so it should let her in again, but if it didn't there was no way Chihiro could travel underwater like he could. The night before Hanami, Haku swallowed his pride for the second time and ran his problem past Zeniiba. She told Haku that though they could just enter through the gate, they couldn't leave that way. They would have to find another way out.

Zeniiba didn't seem worried, though, and she said nothing against bringing Chihiro, so Haku decided to trust that she had a solution. _But then again, she never seems worried._

_When it comes to Chihiro,_ Zeniiba thought, _Haku really is still just a child. _

Early the next morning, Haku appeared at Chihiro's door, and after telling Yuuko and Akio that the tradition in his village was to celebrate Hanami at night (Yuuko glared at Akio upon hearing this), and that they would be back the next morning, was subjected to much scrutiny by Yuuko before they were finally allowed to leave.

They walked toward the old "abandoned theme park." In the woods, out of sight of the road, they linked hands and ran as they did when they were younger and carefree, and not judged so harshly by society for being happy. The trees rang with laughter whenever Chihiro caught sight of the old shrines and the moss-covered statues scattered here and there, and her eyes glittered at every returning memory of the spirit world. They ran down the track through the trees and through the gate.

In the bright sunlight on the other side of the long tunnel, Haku took Chihiro's hands and pulled her high into the air. Chihiro looked across the landscape. She saw the bridge, the bathhouse, and the market town with all of its restaurants. Everything was colorful and motionless under the midday sun. She saw the cliff, and below the cliff the tunnel for the train. The train tracks ran to the horizon in both directions, but the train was nowhere to be seen. To the east, Chihiro saw a dark smudge near the horizon. _Swamp Bottom_, she thought happily. The wind blew ripples through the tall grass. The fruit trees by the pigpens were in full bloom. The scene looked exactly as Chihiro had seen it with her parents so many years ago: beautiful, wild, and deserted.

Chihiro looked into Haku's eyes and grinned with uncontained happiness. "I'm back!" she said. "I'm really back!"

He returned her smile and pulled her in for a hug, one hand around her waist. "You are," he said. "Let's find you something to eat so you don't disappear." Haku's eyes twinkled and he swung Chihiro behind him as if to give her a piggy-back ride, but it was a great white dragon that Chihiro landed on. She gripped his horns and buried her face in his sea-foam mane, still grinning like an idiot, and then held on for dear life as Haku shot forward, tail whipping through the air behind them. They flew east toward Zeniiba's.


	13. Demon

Below them, the train tracks snaked and dipped with the grassy, rolling hills, the one constant in the blurred landscape. Individual blades of grass melted together with the speed they were going to form a great sea. In the distance, here and there, there were rivers, and houses, and trees. Every now and then they passed a train station. The smoke plume from the train appeared in front of them and appeared to move backward toward them until they had left it behind. Haku's flight was so smooth that Chihiro didn't realize until this point the speed at which they were going. Haku's mane only rippled in the wind, and his tail billowed in the slipstream.

Gradually, there were more and more trees. Chihiro watched the changing landscape lazily and ran her fingers along Haku's scales, which were cool and smooth to the touch. He seemed to enjoy it. The sun was so warm and Chihiro felt so _safe_ with him, that exam week finally took its toll and she closed her eyes and dozed with Haku's mane as a pillow. Suddenly, she felt Haku tense beneath her.

"What's wrong?" She used his horns to slowly pull herself up to look over his head. At first, she saw nothing. Then, a black spot appeared in the distance - evidently a dragon's eyesight was better than a human's - and as they flew closer, grew into a thick cloud of darkness. Details came into view - wisps of shadow writhed and shifted to reveal eyes and a long, sharp beak.

At this, Haku slowed and stopped before they got close, and hovered warily. Together they watched the transformation. _What is this, _thought Chihiro, _that can make a dragon hesitate? Then again, that thing is at least twice Haku's size._

It wasn't a beak, Chihiro realized. It was a nose. The dark smoke parted to reveal dark blue skin and a long white robe. It had thick eyebrows and yellow eyes over the long beak-nose and a cruel smile. In one hand it carried a black fan of feathers. Chihiro recognized it from her childhood story books: a tengu, but she had never seen one this color in those stories.

"Now there's a sight you don't see every day. A dragon and a human maiden, how unusual," the demon muttered, seemingly to himself. "Dragon," it called. "Don't you know you're trespassing?"

Haku only responded by staring fiercely at the creature, daring it to continue. Chihiro felt his mane bristling beneath her hands.

The tengu grinned. "Just hand over the girl for my dinner, dragon, and I'll let you pass," it continued, fanning itself as it spoke. "Come now, you're in my territory. Pay my price, and there'll be no hard feelings."

Haku snarled in answer, revealing six-inch canines. He shook with anger, and stood his ground. Chihiro placed a hand on his neck to calm him, stroking his scales.

"You defy me, dragon?" There was amusement in its voice.

Haku didn't want to risk bringing Chihiro closer to the tengu during a fight, streaked toward the ground as black smoke veiled the tengu once more. Chihiro chanced a glance behind them to see that the dark cloud had become an enormous bird of prey with black and white feathers and wickedly sharp claws and beak. _A fish eagle._ _I'm prey for a bird this size. _She couldn't look away. Balls of flame formed in each of the osprey's claws, and with a swoosh of its wings, the osprey flung the fireballs straight at them. Chihiro gripped Haku's horns tightly and threw all her weight to the right, forcing Haku into a spin. The fireballs flew harmlessly past.

Haku continued his dive, and now Chihiro saw the speed a dragon was capable of. The wind brought tears to Chihiro's eyes. She heard a shriek, and then from behind them came a gust of wind so strong Haku was buffeted sideways. Chihiro buried her face and gritted her teeth as the canopy flew up toward her, and then she felt a claw on her. _The tengu! _But she was enveloped in soft scales, and then they crashed into the trees. The world jolted, but Haku shielded Chihiro from the whipping branches. The trees finally put up enough resistance that they came to a stop and dropped to the forest floor. From above them there was a roar. "Then stay out, dragon!"

Haku set Chihiro down onto the ground and flew away through the trees, giving no explanation. The sun was setting by now, and the forest floor shone almost red. The ground was littered with broken branches. Chihiro looked at herself. She was fading. It had already spread to her elbows.

It was barely a minute before he was back, but the shadows had already lengthened. The dragon's muzzle was dripping wet and he had a large fish in his teeth. It was as long as Chihiro's arm. In his haste, the fish was still thrashing. He shook his head quickly, breaking the fish's spine and killing it. He placed it on the ground and ran a razor sharp claw along the fish's back, peeling back the skin to reveal tender muscle. Haku took his human form and gestured to the fish.

"Eat, Chihiro. Quickly."

Chihiro crouched down next to the fish, but her hands went right through it. Haku crouched next to her and deftly separated a piece of flesh from the spines and fed it to Chihiro. Chihiro slowly became opaque again, and sighed in relief. Muffled sounds of fury came through the canopy above them, but they were safe, for the moment.

"Do you want more?" Haku indicated the fish. Chihiro shook her head. In everything else she considered herself very traditionally Japanese, but raw fish wasn't really her thing. Not wanting to waste perfectly good food, Haku transformed back into a dragon to finish the fish. He held down the fish by the tail with one foot and ripped off a big chunk with his teeth. Chihiro could hear the bones crunching as the dragon chewed. She scrunched up her nose at this barbaric behavior. The dragon only grinned back, showing pieces of fish between his teeth. The fish was gone in three bites. Finished eating, the dragon was replaced again by the young man Haku.

They didn't want to risk facing the tengu again, so Haku took Chihiro's hand and they half ran, half flew the rest of the way to Swamp Bottom.

It wasn't far - it took at most fifteen minutes - but the first stars were already twinkling by the time they reached the Zeniiba's little house. Zeniiba was standing in the doorway, looking for them.


	14. It's a Celebration

"There you are. Come in! Come in!" Zeniiba beckoned them through the doorway. "I saw your fight from the window, and then you just disappeared into the trees. I was worried."

They entered the safety of Zeniiba's little house and she closed the door behind them with a solid _click_. Chihiro promptly turned around and gave Zeniiba a big hug. "It's so good to see you, Granny," she said, smiling. She found herself the same height as Zeniiba.

"It wasn't much of a fight," Haku muttered under his breath. He was disgusted with himself. The demon had tried to hurt Chihiro and had gotten away with it.

Zeniiba heard him. "Let's not worry about this now," she said. "It's Hanami; it's a celebration." She smiled at Chihiro, whose hair was entangled with leaves and twigs from their landing in the trees. "Why don't you get cleaned up in the spring behind the house? I made you a pretty kimono to wear to the party."

* * *

Chihiro waded into the spring. It was deep enough to swim in and slightly cool on her skin. The pool was crystal clear, and she could see the rocky bottom. Though the water was connected to the rest of the swamp, the pool was continuously renewed by the spring. She dunked her head in and started pulling her fingers through her hair. It was surprising how easily the knots came out, considering she didn't have shampoo. It was as if the water _wanted _her to be clean. Leaves, twigs, and pieces of bark floated around her, and were carried away by the gentle current. Once her hair was to her satisfaction, it floated around her while she started scrubbing her skin. The water seemed different from any water at home; it seemed almost sentient.

Inside, Zeniiba laid out the pieces of a deep blue kimono out on Haku's bed. Haku had been banished to the living room so that Chihiro would have some privacy, and sat at the table, deep in thought. _She's so innocent, and as delicate as a sakura bloom_. Human life, too, seemed to him as fleetingly beautiful as a cherry blossom._ And yet she's strong,_ Haku thought. He thought about how she had turned them both away from the fireballs. There had been fear, yes, but her strength had come from determination, not desperation. _There's power hidden inside this dainty flower._

Through the window he could hear Chihiro splashing around in the pool. The spring water laughed and loved her, and enjoyed her company. _Please,_ Haku asked the spring. _Help me protect her._ He thought he could sense its acquiescence.

Kaonashi tugged on Haku's sleeve, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Ah, ah!" He pointed toward Zeniiba's bedroom. Haku followed Kaonashi into the room, and there laid out on the bed was a formal kimono. It looked very familiar. _My kimono? Where did she get this? _Kaonashi left and shut the door so that Haku could change.

* * *

Chihiro heard the door open and turned to see Zeniiba come out with a thick, fluffy towel. As she left the spring, the water clung to her feet. She dried herself off and wrapped herself in the towel, and went through the paneled doors into the house. There was a beautiful kimono on the bed and next to the bed, a small bedside table. The kimono was rich blue silk with silver branches and white cherry blossoms embroidered on it. Chihiro was stroking the soft cloth with her fingers when Zeniiba came in carrying a chair.

"This is Haku's room," she said, setting down the chair. "Sit here. I'll do your hair." Zeniiba gently combed through Chihiro's long, thick brown hair and twisted it into an elegant knot, fastening it with the purple hair tie. She pulled out a silver comb with a row of small pink porcelain sakura and slid it in behind the knot.

Chihiro had never worn a kimono before. They had always looked very uncomfortable to her – there was just so much cloth. The next few minutes passed in a whirl as Zeniiba showed her how each piece was fastened. When the last silver sash had been tied around her waist, Chihiro moved her limbs experimentally. The cloth was soft and thin, very fitting for the weather, and allowed much more mobility than she had expected. She slipped her feet into bamboo sandals like the ones she had seen Haku wear.

Zeniiba smiled at her. "You look wonderful."

She opened the door and Chihiro stepped out. For some silly reason, her stomach was in a big knot.

* * *

Haku was standing looking out the window. He turned at the creak of the door. Chihiro stared; her breath caught. She hadn't expected to see Haku like this. He stood tall and dignified in a knee-length white kimono with teal edges the color of his mane and eyes. The cloth shimmered with a pattern of scales. His hair just brushed the shoulders of his kimono. Inside, his shirt and hakama, which reached the tops of his feet, were the same deep blue as Chihiro's kimono. Its simplicity practically radiated all the power and grace of a dragon. A blush rose on Chihiro's cheeks. _Haku…is that really you…? _Chihiro suddenly felt shy.

Haku was stunned by Chihiro's elegance. The cloth draped over her shoulders and hugged her small frame, while the sleeves and bow behind her made her seem more modest and innocent than ever. The blue silk and silver embroidery reminded Haku of the night sky and the pink flowers in her hair brought out the blush in her cheeks. Her rich brown eyes made the night sky seem welcoming. _She belongs in a kimono._

Once again, they realized they were gawking at each other. Haku grinned – "You look beautiful" – and reached for Chihiro's hand, but Chihiro found her eyes drawn to the floor.

"Are we flying?" Chihiro asked, when she found her voice again. _Why can't I just tell him he looks…he looks…_"You look…very handsome," she muttered.


	15. Hanami Reunions

Lin was spreading out her picnic blanket under a couple of sakura trees when she thought she saw a streak of white in the sky. She looked back and stared.

_It can't be. No way. He's coming back? But when he broke his contract, he couldn't wait to get out of here._

"Look, it's Haku," she whispered to the six-armed man beside her.

"Ehhh?" Kamaji turned to look where she was looking, but he was half-blind and saw nothing. However, one of the frog workers did.

"Master Haku!"

"Master Haku?"

"It's Master Haku!"

"He's coming this way!"

"There he is, look!"

Slug women and other frog men looked up and took up the cry.

Yubaba heard the ruckus and turned around, looking toward the sky like everyone else. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the witch in the blue dress flying behind the white dragon. She had nothing against Haku personally, he had been an obedient apprentice, but he had the gall to bring _her sister?_

Yubaba's son, Bou, who had visited Zeniiba with Chihiro once, looked up, too. No matter how his mother felt about his aunt, he had liked Zeniiba, and he hadn't had much occasion to visit after Haku left. His mouth parted in a smile, showing his teeth. He was the first to spot Chihiro sitting on Haku's back, her kimono almost blending into the night sky.

"Sen!" He yelled in his child voice.

The spirits watching the dragon heard and squinted, trying to see the human who had made a few weeks of their lives so exciting so long ago.

* * *

Chihiro heard the first "Master Haku!" and saw everyone turn to stare at them. As Haku descended, she felt a little like a visiting dignitary. It made her nervous. It was such a big crowd, and every pair of eyes was focused on them; it threatened to overwhelm her. Then she heard Bou's voice calling out her name from her time in the bathhouse.

"Sen!"

She looked at him and saw that he was smiling. In the crowd, she could just pick out Lin and Kamaji looking in her direction like everybody else. They were grinning like fools, and she felt a little better. Looking more closely at the crowd now, she saw quite a few familiar faces among the strangers from her time at the bathhouse. There was the radish spirit, who had helped her on her first day, and there were the masked spirits she had seen coming off the boat. They had scared her at first, but they had cheered when she passed Yubaba's test and saved her parents. There was the foreman and the spirits of chickens, and even the river spirit who had given her the medicine that saved Haku. She picked out a few unfamiliar faces, too – a couple of dragons, spirits that looked like humans other than the fact that they had antlers or tails, even a couple of beings that looked like they might be related to Kamaji.

Next to Bou was Yubaba. She was looking past them at Zeniiba, and she did not look happy.

With a rush of wind, Haku landed, and Zeniiba landed next to them. Chihiro slid off Haku's back and was immediately smothered in a hug by Lin. She warmly returned the hug, and then held Lin at arm's length to get a better look at her. Lin was in a simple red kimono and her long hair was in a high bun held in place with two hair sticks. She looked a couple of years older than the last time they'd met, maybe eighteen years old, but otherwise she was the same Lin that Chihiro remembered.

"Sen!" Lin exclaimed, smiling. "What are you doing here?"

Chihiro didn't get a chance to answer, because Bou had run over and had picked her up to hug her. Bou had grown smaller and looked about three years old. He was as chubby as ever.

"Sen, you're back!" he squealed, smothering her.

"Bou, you're hugging me too tight," Chihiro protested.

"Oops," he said, and set her down.

Now that her arms were free again, she hugged him back. He was still a full head taller than she was. His face had lost just a little of its roundness. By this time, Kamaji had made his way over, too.

"Grandpa!"

He swept Chihiro up in four of his arms and received a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Haku stood there through all this commotion, smiling as Chihiro was greeted by each of her friends from the bathhouse. His eyes never left her, even though her back was to him. The joy in her voice left a strange tightness in his chest and made it hard to breathe. _What's wrong with me? _he wondered. He'd never felt this before.

Lin had been watching Chihiro, too, after she had been stolen by Bou, but now her gaze swept to Haku. She had never seen that particular look on his face before, in fact, she wasn't aware that Haku was capable of any kind of emotion at all. He had never shown any to her while at the bathhouse. A slight smile had settled on his face, though he wasn't aware of it, and it softened his eyes.

_The poor kid is in love,_ she thought, bemused. _Who would've thought?_

By now, many of the picnic blankets had been abandoned as all the bathhouse workers crowded around to watch the happy reunions. With all the commotion, Zeniiba was able to slip away unnoticed by the crowd to talk to Yubaba. However, one pair of eyes followed her every step.

Chihiro finally got around to answering Lin's question. "I'm out of school for now, so I'm visiting for the night," she explained. "My parents are letting me see what the Hanami celebrations are like in Haku's town." She blushed slightly, knowing that it sounded like a date.

_Ha, she likes him, too! I wonder if he knows. _Lin laughed out loud. She doubted it.

"What's so funny?" Chihiro asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Lin said, trying to hide a smile.

* * *

"You see more polluted spirits every week. You can't hide from the war forever, Yubaba."

"It's none of your business who I do or don't serve in my bathhouse. Keep your nose and your spies out of it, Sister." Yubaba's eyes glinted in the shadow of the sakura tree they stood under.

Zeniiba frowned at her younger twin. "I don't need to spy on you to know what's going on. I can see them flying by from my window. They even stop and tell me things. The injured and the impure flock to your baths from every direction. Are you really not going to do anything about this?"

"It's good for business. Why should I care what happens in the war? If the humans don't want us in their world, it's their loss. Not my problem."

"We need the humans just as much as they need us."

Yubaba snorted. "Ha. Try telling the humans they need us. Even _you_ and your silver tongue couldn't convince them of that. They're much more stubborn than the council. You should know, after all, you've been thoroughly charmed by that one." She looked over Zeniiba's shoulder at Chihiro.

"You want to just stand back and let everyone else carry the responsibility. They won't let you keep a neutral stance for long."

"Nor will you, will you, Sister."


	16. Something Special

Chihiro and Lin lay talking under the star-grazed sakura trees. Zeniiba had called Haku over to talk to him a while ago, and it didn't look like the conversation was going to end any time soon. In fact, it looked kind of…_maybe_ _"heated" is the right word, _Chihiro thought. She decided not to worry. After all, when would she get the chance to catch up with Lin again?

"The bathhouse was hectic for a whole week after you left. It took us that long to clean up the mess that Kaonashi made and to get everything back into order. Yubaba could've done it with her magic in a second, but,

'You want me to clean? What am I paying you for, dimwits?'"

Lin imitated Yubaba's screeching voice and Chihiro giggled, remembering her encounters with the money-grubbing sorceress.

"That's Yubaba alright, always worried that she was spending any more than she has to."

"Yeah, well, usually she'd be there, telling at us to work faster. But this time, she couldn't be found all week. She must've been busy with something, and it took up most of her attention. Even while yelling, you could tell she was distracted. I still haven't found out what it was.

Haku was gone most of the time. After he took you back to your parents,

_and by the hand, no less_,

he was different. He was always hiding in the boiler room to talk to Kamaji and pet the soot balls. Can you imagine Haku petting anything? I swear I almost saw him smile once or twice, but it might have been just a trick of the light."

Chihiro smiled, remembering how Haku's lack of emotion had scared her. She had even asked Lin if there were two Hakus - he was so different when he was with her than in the bathhouse.

_"__From now on, address me as Master Haku."_

It had confused her so much. Distracted by the subject of Haku, Lin went off on a tangent.

"I remember when he first showed up. One day, I was taking food to Kamaji and Haku was just lying on the floor, unconscious, with Kamaji bent over him. Kamaji told me that he'd walked in and just collapsed there, like he hadn't eaten in weeks. Of course, it would take more than that to finish off a river dragon, but we didn't know who he was back then. We were really worried, and when he woke up he was all dazed.

Kamaji asked him who he was and where he came from, but all he would, or maybe could, say, was that he had nowhere to go. He wouldn't even tell us his name. He said he wanted to learn magic. Maybe he thought that he could get his home back if he was powerful enough. Kamaji tried to keep him from going to see Yubaba, but Haku didn't listen. The kid was really confused and depressed and we could see that he was pretty helpless, but he never cried, for all that he looked maybe 11 years old. Just about as old as you were, Sen."

Chihiro had heard much of this already, some from Kamaji and some from Haku himself, but she wanted to know more about his past and time at the bathhouse, and was content just to let Lin finish the story.

"When he came out of Yubaba's office, he seemed better at first. He was stronger and had a sense of purpose. After a few days, he was completely fine. There was no sign of the wreck he had been. But it wasn't because he had healed – Yubaba had stolen his name and memories of what he had lost. He grew cold and stoic; his skin became pale and his eyes became steely. He acted more like a puppet than a person, and maybe he was a puppet. He even acted cold toward Kamaji and me. I didn't know about the slug at the time, I thought that it was just Haku and didn't question. After all, I didn't know the kid, and he barely knew us.

When you showed up out of the blue, it was like a light had been kindled inside of him. There's something special about the two of you."

Lin looked at Chihiro. "From what you told me back then, it was like Yubaba's spell was broken when he was with you, even before you killed the slug."

_Really? Something special?_

* * *

Chihiro was shaken awake by Lin. She yawned and looked up groggily, her body not used to the spirit world schedule. Haku and Lin were both looking down at her with concern.

It took her a moment to remember why she had been asleep under a tree. The three of them had been talking and stargazing – Haku had been a little stiff toward Lin in the beginning, but soon relaxed – and she must have dozed off.

"Chihiro, let's go back to Zeniiba's and let you get some rest, okay?"

Chihiro nodded, still not fully awake. Haku transformed into his dragon form and Lin helped her onto his back. She was just so tired…

It wasn't until they left the ground that she remembered.

"What about Zeniiba?" she muttered into his ear. But in his dragon form, he couldn't answer. Chihiro looked back and could just make out the two women in blue, still talking. The air was warm and so comfortable; she just wanted to rest her eyes for a little bit.

Haku felt her grip on his horns loosen and her body relax. _She fell asleep again_, he realized. Afraid that she would fall off his back, he took his human form and carried her in his arms. He still had all the strength of his dragon form, her weight was no problem, and he carried her easily. Flying this way was much slower than flying as a dragon, but since she was already asleep, he had all the time he needed.

Kaonashi saw Haku float down from the window, and opened the door for them. Haku gently set her down on his bed and covered her with a light blanket. With his thicker winter blankets, he laid out a bed for himself on the floor and also went to sleep.


	17. The Dangers of Tourist Traps

Haku woke in the pre-dawn light intensely aware of the girl still deeply asleep in his bed. He was surprised that he had fallen asleep at all. He got up, folding the blankets as he did. _She looks so peaceful lying there._

_Has it really been a day and a night? Time has never passed so quickly before. I wish I could keep you longer, but I promised your parents I would return you to your world today. To your home._

_"__You can take her through the spring's channel. Just protect her from the earth's pressure."_

_"__How can you make it sound so simple? You must know that I don't have that power."_

_"__It's the only way."_

_The only way. And here I was thinking you had some trick up your sleeve you were hiding from the council. I'm not even fully recovered from the last crossing. Is there any reason to believe that I can do today what I've failed to do the last five years? You should know this, Zeniiba. I've seen you watching me. _

Haku silently crossed the room and slipped out between the paneled doors. He just looked at the spring for a moment, breathing, trying to calm his mind. He closed his eyes. The spring water was loud today, almost drowning out the other small early-morning noises. It sounded…_happy?_

_What happened?_

Haku stepped into the water and was hit with a barrage of thoughts that were not quite his own. The sound of the wavelets lapping the stone bank became thousands of voices clamoring, overlapping each other, all saying the same thing:

_The girl. The girl. The girl. The girl._

_The girl._

_The girl. The girl._

_The girl._

Haku was astonished. _The girl? Chihiro? _

There was a slight pause, as if the spring was thinking this over.

_Chihiro. _The voices tried out the name. _Chihiro._

_Her voice. Laughter. Chihiro. Like bubbles. Sparkles! Warm. Like rain. She loves us! Loves us! Loves us! When will she come back? Chihiro loves us. loves us. Bring her back! We will protect her! Loves us. _

_Loves you?_

Haku had never heard the spring's voice before. The most he'd ever felt were vague feelings, naggings, nothing so concrete. It was younger than the voice of his river, like that of many children. It was excited at having met Chihiro.

_She thanked us! She said we were beautiful! She likes us! Loves us! We won't let anything happen to her! We love her! Love her! Love her!_

The spring sounded so in earnest and so innocent that Haku had to smile.

"I love her, too," he whispered. The words barely reached his own ears, but the spring didn't need sound to hear. He remembered how it felt when he woke up and learned that Chihiro had gone to apologize to Zeniiba, how scared he'd been, and how guilty he'd felt. He remembered how worried he'd been after the car almost hit them, the acute pain when Chihiro's hand slipped through his to go home, the dread he felt now facing another good-bye. "Kamaji says this is called love." He recalled his first sight of Chihiro in a kimono the night before. _Is this love, too?_

_I need your help_, he told the spring. _Help me take her home._

_She's coming back? Bring her back! Back to us!_

_Yes. She's coming back._

Haku sat down on the surface of the water. The water was eager and knew what he wanted it to do. Before Haku could even ask, it rose up and encased Haku like a bud, a flower.

* * *

Chihiro woke to find shafts of sunlight streaming through the paneled doors. The room was empty. She was still wearing the kimono from last night, now creased and wrinkled, and couldn't remember getting back to Zeniiba's. There was a stack of blankets neatly folded on the floor. _Haku must've slept on the ground…_but now he was nowhere in sight.

Her hair had come undone in the night, and the silver comb lay on the bedside table, along with her clothes. She pulled her hair into a rough ponytail _so I'll at least be presentable. _She untied and folded her obi, and then was stuck. _Which knot comes next? Why are kimonos so complicated?_ She thought back to when Zeniiba was helping her put it on, but she couldn't quite remember the exact order…and sighed.

In the end, Chihiro untied the knots as they appeared and folded each piece as it came off. With relief, she pulled on her every-day clothes.

* * *

Haku's door opened and Chihiro walked into the room, looking sheepish.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I didn't mean to kick you out of your bed…"

And then she looked up and noticed Haku, really noticed him. It was as if he was glowing. The light was never still on his hair and skin, and it danced and rippled in ever shifting patterns. He seemed so…_alive._

* * *

"And I know it sounds strange, to say he looked alive, because he'd never looked _not_ alive, but he looked like he was filled with this force…like electricity," Chihiro struggled to find the words to describe what she'd seen. Then she gave up, shrugging.

"And how did you get back?"

"Well, after breakfast he led me to the spring. The _spring_, of all places. I knew there was something unusual with the water when I took a bath in it. When I stepped in, the water wouldn't stay still, even though there was no wind. And it made a bubble around us so there was air, and we went through this tunnel underground, in this air bubble, and we ended up in the pond behind our school!"

Chihiro and Risuni were sitting at their favorite little coffee shop, and Chihiro was trying her best to recount what had happened during Hanami without sounding crazy. Haku had returned her that morning to the human world, tired but happy, much to Yuuko's relief, and it hadn't been half an hour when Risuni had showed up. The two girls had retreated to Chihiro's room to talk, but Chihiro had been reluctant to risk her parents overhearing her story, so they'd gone out.

"_That_ explains how he's able to show up at school all the time," Risuni replied dryly, still suspicious of Haku. So far, Chihiro had been able to avoid explaining that Haku was sometimes a dragon. She had skipped the episode with the tengu altogether.

At this point, their drinks came, and they paused to sip their coffee. Chihiro put hers back down immediately.

'Ugh, this tastes awful," she exclaimed.

"What's the matter?"

"I can't really place it, but it's kind of nauseating."

"But this is your favorite." Risuni reached for Chihiro's cup to try it for herself. "Tastes just as disgusting as usual," she remarked. "I don't know why you insist on drowning your coffee in so much sugar and cream."

Chihiro made a face at Risuni, and took her cup back, but didn't drink it. It even smelled bad.

The talk turned to exams – results were coming out tomorrow – as Risuni finished her coffee. Suddenly, Risuni changed the subject.

"Oh! I found this _adorable_ little shop yesterday. I really want to show you, you'll love it."

Chihiro blinked. "Okay."

Risuni led Chihiro out of the little café and into the street. The town was small, and they had explored it thoroughly. Chihiro thought she knew every street and shop in town, but Risuni led her down a little alley that she definitely had never seen before, and at the end was a little stationary shop, one of those tourist traps. _Why would they open one of these here? We never get tourists._

Risuni opened the door with a little tinkle of the bell, and Chihiro caught sight of pink pencil cases and Hello Kitty's, and a woman behind the counter, and thought one thought: _Risuni thought I would like this? _

And then Risuni crumpled in front of her. Before Chihiro could think much of it, she was unconscious.

The woman behind the counter had never stopped staring at the two girls now lying on the floor of the shop. She beckoned to them, and the girls got up, eyes still closed. They followed her out of the door of the shop, and with a last tinkle of the bell, the shop disappeared.


	18. An Old Spider's Magic

"My Dearest Zeniiba,

Tell your general that his pet human sends her regards.

Stay away from Yureibune.

Three days is more than generous."

The note sprang back into the small scroll which had appeared on Zeniiba's doorstep that morning, and she looked into the grim faces of Kamaji, Lin, Kaonashi, and Kawa no Kami, the river spirit, in his human form. They looked at each other. They thought of the spirits positioned at the Yureibune Gate, working hard to keep the gate open, preparing to counter the enemy's spells. The plan had been going impeccably. But Chihiro had been kidnapped, at least, according to this note she was. Even if they retreated though, would they give Chihiro back?

Lin looked around, hardly seeing the drawers of herbs on the wall and the hardworking soot balls steadily feeding coal to the furnace, still heating the bathhouse after everyone had gone to sleep.

"We're not going to retreat," Zeniiba said at last, firmly. "We can't afford to lose this gate. There are still spirits living in Crater Lake and the surrounding mountains, and humans who worship there, and most importantly, human visitors who feel the presence of the spirits and the Spirit World. The talisman I gave Chihiro during her last visit will provide some protection." She looked around at them all, and at Lin in particular. "I'm sorry, but we'll have to rely on that for now. I'll talk to the council and see what they can do."

"Does Haku know?" Lin asked.

"No, and we're not telling him. We can't have him doing anything rash."

"You can't blame him," Lin muttered. She felt sick at the thought of Chihiro in the demons' hands.

Kawa no Kami gazed at Zeniiba. "So he declined," he said in his slow, grave voice.

_Declined? _Lin looked up sharply. _He's not here because he declined, not because Zeniiba's trying to keep a secret?_

"He can't forgive the humans for what they did."

"That dragon boy! Does he have to hold his little grudge? Can't he see what's going on?" Lin looked around at them, expecting indignant expressions, but instead found Kaonashi and Kawa both nodding in sympathy.

"Lin," Kamaji said. "Remember how long it took you to value humans, and Haku's river was destroyed."

"He was the river," Kawa said. "He has lost his soul. He won't forgive easily. It will be difficult to convince dragonkind for this very reason; this is why we need him."

"But Kawa-sama, we have you. _You_ can lead the dragons." But Kawa slowly shook his head.

"I am old," he said, and indeed in his human form his hair and beard were long and white, and he walked with a slight stoop. "And," he continued, "I am not a prince."

* * *

Lin sat on the raised floor of the boiler room with the basket of star-candies next to her. She watched the soot balls eating thoughtfully.

"Kamaji," she said softly. "We all love Chihiro, but Haku loves her most of all, whether he knows it or not. We shouldn't keep this from him."

Kamaji only grunted in reply.

"I hate the idea of just leaving Chihiro there. If Haku's as powerful as Kawa says, maybe he can get her out of there."

They sat in silence for a while, Lin feeding the soot balls more candies every now and then.

"Zeniiba wants him to lead the armies; she should trust him."

Kamaji finally spoke.

"Yes. You should tell him." He beckoned to the soot balls.

"Me? Why not you? He respects you!" Lin said, startled.

Kamaji shook his head. "You're both young and filled with passion. He'll listen to you." The soot balls moved toward Kamaji as he spoke.

"But how can I talk to him?" Lin asked.

"Watch."

Kamaji brought all three pairs of hands together, and when he pulled them apart, there was a strand of silk in each pair. He tossed the threads to the soot balls, and it was clear that they'd done this before. The soot balls stretched the silk out to form a hexagonal frame, and when that was done, one took a fourth, longer piece from Kamaji and wove the spiral from the inside out, to form a perfect orb web.

As the soot balls were weaving the spiral, Kamaji went and rummaged in his drawer. It didn't take long. When he came back, he held a large, shiny, teardrop-shaped stone. _Not a stone, _thought Lin, looking closer,_ a scale. _He placed it in the exact center of the web and the sound of water bubbling came from the center of the web and bounced gently off the walls. Kamaji gestured for Lin to speak. Lin blinked.

"Haku?"

* * *

_So soft so white beautiful lovely bubbly joyous…_

Haku missed Chihiro already, and it was only the next day, but for now he was content to let the water's thoughts carry him on. _Chihiro charmed the spring,_ he thought with amusement, and with pride. _Who said she couldn't solve your problems. _Haku had no form, no shape. In that moment when he found out the spring loved Chihiro, he had finally become one with the spring. He was made of water. He filled the rocky spring bed and felt the heat of the tunnel which was a doorway to the human world. He touched molecules of dissolved limestone and of dissolved smoke, conscious of both sides at once, filled with the desire to be clean, to support life. Animals came to drink, and he healed them as he quenched them. Ah, to be water again, to be one thought in a clamoring thousand, to be whole.

Then he heard a voice that was not his own, nor of the water, cutting in. A worried voice.

_Haku? Haku!_

Suddenly the voices of the water were distracting, and sensing their master's distress, the water grew louder, anxious.

_What's wrong? What's wrong? Wrong? Wrong? What's wrong? Wrong?_

The water molecules took on the form of Haku and he rose out of the surface of the spring, though there had been nothing below the surface a moment ago.

"Lin?" he whispered.

* * *

"Yuuko, could you tell Risuni to come home? We're about to have dinner. Tell her that her exam results just arrived if she won't come."

"Suzume? I though Chihiro and Risuni were at your house. Are they not there?"

"Did they just leave? They're not here yet, then. Is Chihiro having dinner here?"

"No…I meant…" Yuuko sank into the nearest chair, the phone gripped tightly in her hand.

"Yuuko? What is it? What's wrong?"

"Didn't they spend the night at your house?" Yuuko asked desperately.

There was silence, but neither mother needed an answer.

* * *

_Please, please, please, Kami watch over Risuni and Chihiro, _prayed Suzume Shinkono. _Keep them safe. _Beside her, her husband, Tasuo Shinkono, was no doubt muttering the same kinds of things as they knelt before the small shrine in their house.

Yuuko and Akio Ogino had gone out to search for the missing girls, but Suzume had been taught from childhood to ask the Kami for help first. After all, back home in the countryside, Suzume's parents were the caretakers of the village shrine, and her sister was the miko.

The phone rang. Tasuo ran to pick it up. _Maybe the Oginos found something._

But Tasuo came back with a puzzled expression and held out the phone to her.

"It's your parents," he said.

_But my parents don't even have a phone…what's happened now?_


	19. The Shinkono

_How are we going to tell them? All our years knowing the Ogino family, they've never for one moment shown that they had any kind of beliefs at all. They moved here from the big city, there's no way that the old religions have survived the generations._

_Just look at me worrying about this. My daughter is caught up in the gods' wars, how can I worry about something so trivial?_

_They're not going to believe us._

_But we can't not tell them. Their daughter is caught, too. More so than ours._

_How did Chihiro get so involved with the gods?_

For over the phone, her father had specifically said _Chihiro. _

_"__The Kami appeared to me and said that Chihiro has been captured by Akuma, and that she's being used to force Zeniiba's retreat. He said I was to tell you."_

_"__Chihiro?"_

_"__Yes, Chihiro. Isn't that one of Risuni's friends?"_

And that's when Suzume had started to cry.

_"__Yes, oh Papa, Chihiro's gone. Risuni's gone, too. They both disappeared, Papa. Tell me the Kami said something about Risuni…tell me the Kami said they're alright…"_

But he hadn't. So she had hung up, her father had gone back to the shrine to pray to the Kami, and Suzume and her husband had gotten into their car to go break the news to the Oginos.

There was a yell close to her, startling Suzume.

"Akio!" called Tasuo out the car window. "Yuuko!"

Akio saw them and called to his wife. The two of them ran to the car.

"You found them?" Akio asked through the open window.

_What do I tell them? What will they believe?_

"They've been kidnapped into the Spirit World," said Tasuo, reaching around to unlock the back door for them.

_What? What are you thinking, Tasuo?_

Akio grew angry. "How can you joke at a time like this? Don't you care about your daughter, Tasuo. Why are you wasting our time?"

Yuuko, however, looked at Tasuo and saw that he was gravely serious.

"The Spirit World?" she whispered. Suzume nodded, hoping, praying.

"Yuuko, you can't possibly believe a story like that. It's ridiculous."

"The town's tiny. We've looked everywhere. They're not here; we couldn't have missed them. The Spirit World…as long as there's a chance Chihiro's there…I want to know what they know." She turned away from her husband and got into the car.

And for the first time that Suzume could remember, Akio followed his wife. They drove away in the direction of the Shinkono residence.

Suzume blinked. _Well. That simplifies things._

* * *

Akio and Yuuko Ogino stepped into the Shinkono house. They had visited many times, but this time, the differences in furnishing that they had simply labeled "quaint" on previous visits drew their eyes. The tatami mats on the floor instead of chairs. Sliding shoji partitions. The small shrine on the wall with a bowl of food as an offering and a figurine of a white dragon behind an old man. _They've been kidnapped into the Spirit World. _The words rang in Yuuko's head over and over.

Suzume refused to talk until they had settled down on the tatami and been served tea, which frustrated Akio to no end.

"Where are they?" he demanded. "What happened? How do you know?"

Suzume brushed off this rudeness and sat down, waiting for Tasuo to bring his cushion from the closet and sit also.

Finally, she answered.

"My father heard from the kami and called me." Yuuko glanced at the shrine. It seemed more than just symbolic now. "The girls have been captured…kidnapped by Akuma. They're hostages of the Spirit World war," said Suzume. "But let me explain from the beginning."

Her voice settled into a chant in the rhythm of the Kojiki, The Record of Ancient Matters. It was a story Suzume had learned when she was very young.


	20. Kojiki

_"__In the beginning, after the first six divine generations retreated from the surface of the earth into the high plain of heaven, the seventh divine generation created Kuniumi, the islands of Japan. At that time, the worlds were one, and the humans lived alongside the spirits. Mountains rose and rivers were born. The humans worshiped the wind, the water, the earth as kami, or gods, and were looked upon with favor. These kami were the guardians of the people. The greatest of them was Amaterasu, goddess of the Sun, who gave birth to the Emperors of Japan. This is why Kuniumi has always been called the Land of the Rising Sun. Her children ruled over Japan wisely for many generations, with her blessing. The people prospered. They had enough to set aside for times of famine, and life was long. _

_"__But one day,"_ Suzume's voice became harsh, _"the people grew discontent. Their wants grew greater than their needs. Desire for riches overcame the love for our homelands, so people moved away from their beloved kamis, and crowded together in the concrete jungles. As we moved away, we forgot the past. As we traveled through the generations we left the stories behind in the hearts of our ancestors. We laughed at the idea of petitioning the kamis, for they couldn't help us get what we wanted. We left our lands desolate for our presence and our gods forlorn. They were the rivers, the mountains, the winds, the rice paddies, and without our love, they had no life, for love and life are one and the same. With our inattention, we banished the spirits. The worlds splintered as a heart separated from its beloved, the spirits on one side, the humans on the other, connected by a few fragments, pathways._

_"__We were still not satisfied with our wealth. We began to hunt and kill the gods in order to take their lands for ourselves, forgetting that once the gods let us live on their lands with their blessings. The worlds mourned as they were sundered further and further. The hunted gods fled to the spirit world. Some died from the shock of betrayal from their beloved people and the loss of their self."_

"You knew one of these gods yourself. The god of the swiftly-flowing amber river," Tasuo interrupted softly.

"Nigihayami…Kohakunushi…? There was a little shrine to him near our old apartment. I remember, someone prayed there for the river to save Chihiro when she fell in." Yuuko turned this over in her head. _Nigihayami Kohakunushi. Why is that name so familiar?_

"Chihiro fell in?"

"Yeah, and she was carried downstream by the river. We were picnicking on the rocks and she leaned too far reaching for her shoe. We found her an hour later almost a kilometer downstream."

"And she was okay?"

"Yeah, she was fine."

There was a slight pause as each of them thought this over.

"The river was filled in, wasn't it?"

"They drained it and built apartments over that whole area."

"He'll have gone. There's not a drop of water left. There's no way he could've stayed," Suzume said resignedly, then continued with the story.

_"__The gods looked upon human greed and destruction with sadness, and decided to quarantine the damage. Seven gates were built on the greatest of these fragments, where humans still wished to come and go - gates designed to keep the humans out and the spirits in. Many other smaller fragments were blocked. Even so, a human slips through the cracks every once in a while, and so the contact is maintained. Since then, it's been nine bitter generations, more so because we humans don't realize what we've done. Most people today will never have any contact with the gods and no longer believe that they exist, and so the destruction continues. The gods' council is convinced that the destruction is unstoppable, and so to protect themselves still further, the gates will be closed and all contact cut off. The Spirit World and the human world will exist in parallel, side-by-side, but never touching. _

_"__But gods have longer memories than humans. Almost all memory of the gods have died throughout these nine generations, but some spirits still remember humans, and the life our love brings. These spirits know that the Spirit World cannot exist without humans, and so they have waged this war since the creation of the gates to reconnect the worlds. But this rebel group is very small, and most spirits rightly hate the destruction we wreak, and so they will not succeed. Most spirits don't know that Akuma is behind the closing of the gates, and they don't care. They see the spirits that have lost their homes and despise us. Akuma plays off the fears the spirits have of us, and has his pawns on the council. If his plans come to fruition, the Yureibune Gate will close within the next moon."_

"This is the war that Chihiro and Risuni have now been caught in like dolphins in a tuna net," she concluded.

Akio heard echoes of his grandparents in Suzume's words, telling him stories about the spirits. His parents had prayed to the family's guardian kami, too, and their house had been even more traditional than the Shinkonos'. All of his friends had had modern houses; their parents had been busy making money and climbing the social ladder. He had been afraid to bring his friends home. Akio had wanted normal parents more than anything. He had never heard this story before, and he had never understood his parents' faith.

Now this.

"So what can we do?" he heard himself ask.

And that's when the phone rang for the second time that day.

***Disclaimer: Although this chapter is based on the first story in Kojiki, it is ****_not_**** a story in Kojiki. (This is a fanfiction, after all.) I haven't read Kojiki and I made a bunch of stuff up. I'm allowed to do this, obviously, because it is my story. ****J**


	21. Intentions

"Let's have a moment of silence for our dear friend, Kawauso."

There was silence around the low table as each of them remembered the playful otter spirit. He had left the human world 30 years ago, when the humans had chased him out with their guns and ingratitude. He had been willing enough to keep the humans warm with his furs, for he had loved the humans; it was the ingratitude that drove him away – taking without giving, without love and attention and care. But he still loved them, and so while he had made his home in the Spirit World, he had sneaked off to check in on his favorite humans every once in a while. He had been the last of his kind.

And with that short memorial service, the council meeting began. Everyone turned their attention to Zeniiba, who had called this meeting. She looked into the faces of the spirits around her. Some of them were grim and filled with grief. Some, the demon representatives especially, she knew, were hiding smirks behind their grieving façades. She felt a twinge of doubt.

"It has come to my attention," she began, "that a human is trapped in the Spirit World." She saw that the demons were startled. "Especially in light of recent events, it is of my opinion that the human should be found and returned to its own world before it can wreak havoc here."

"Are you sure you are not wanting the human for yourself, Zeniiba?" the tengu Washi remarked snidely. "I have heard of the human girl you brought for Hanami. Are you thinking of starting a collection, perhaps? Or should I say…population?"

This last statement raised a few eyebrows around the table.

"Zeniiba, you may have had a human father, but you can't let your soft spot for humans go this far," Jinsokuna-kami said with a frown. "Your sister's attitude toward humans is really much healthier."

Zeniiba inclined her head toward Jinsokuna-kami in acknowledgement of his half-scolding, for although he was small in stature, being a mouse-spirit, he was well respected across the Spirit World. "The dragonling is young and foolish, and favors the human girl. She was returned to her world after the holiday. I saw no harm in it," she said, addressing Jinsokuna-kami. The council was aware that she had 'adopted' a 'lost dragonling' a few years back, but as there were spirits dying left and right, didn't know exactly which 'dragonling' it was. Nor did they care. At the time, they were simply impressed. Very few people are willing to deal with a traumatized dragon, young or not.

Zeniiba now turned to Washi. "If I had wanted to raise a population, as you put it," she said lightly, "would I be pressing for the cleansing and return of the human?"

At the word "cleansing," the tension in the room dissipated.

* * *

_"__Haku, is Zeniiba home?"_

_What, how…Lin, how are you talking to me?_

_"__Kamaji rigged some kind of web. Don't let Zeniiba hear you. She doesn't want me tell you this."_

_Zeniiba? She just got back. What doesn't she want you to tell me? Why do you sound so worried? _

_"__Go somewhere where she can't hear you. Trust me."_

_Don't be so dramatic. _

_"_Trust_ me."_

_Sigh. This better be important._

Haku's human form melted away as he leapt from the spring and shot high into the atmosphere. The spring disappeared from sight, far below. Wisps of cloud were pulled into the dragon's wake as it passed, too fast to be caught by such mundane things as jet streams. He hung there in the stratosphere, mane fluttering as it was hit by stray air molecules.

_Okay, Lin._

_"__Chihiro's been kidnapped." _

_What! _A low snarl rippled through the air. Thankfully, his only audience was the clouds.

_WHERE IS SHE?_ Lin staggered mentally under the force of his thought, and took a deep breath to calm herself.

_"__We think Akuma has her at Yureibune."_

The air molecules filled the vacuum left by the dragon with a thundering BOOM, but Haku didn't hear it. The sound waves hit the spring and left little wavelets lapping its stony banks.

_Akuma…how _dare_ you._

_"__Haku! What are you _doing_?"_

_Did you think I would just sit here?_

_"__You're going _now_?"_

_WHY WOULD I LEAVE HER THERE ANY LONGER THAN IS NECESSARY. They could do anything to her. _At this thought, Haku felt an acute pain, as if Akuma was clawing at his heart. How dare Lin try to stop him.

_"__You don't have a plan!"_

_I don't need a plan. _

_"__You have to take me with you."_

_And why would I do that?_

_"__Because I care about her, too. And I told you about this. You owe me, Haku."_

_You'll just get in the way._

_"__You don't know Yureibune. I do. I know what Akuma's been doing the last few months."_

_You haven't left the bathhouse. It's all hearsay and Zeniiba's little maps._

_"__That's still more than what you have."_

_I'm not going to waste time arguing with you. Be ready in half an hour._

With that, Lin's voice faded from his mind.

_Akuma_, he thought. _HOW DARE YOU._

* * *

A soft velvety voice spoke into Chihiro's mind: "Two girls. Did you hear me asking for two girls, Kitsune?" No one replied. "My dear Kitsune," the voice continued, growing steadily quieter, "do tell me your brilliant plan, for you must've been just desperate to prove your cunning by disobeying me…" The voice was barely a hiss now, low and harsh.

A panicked voice answered, a woman: "They both walked into the trap. I thought…I mean, I didn't know-" There was a little strangled noise.

Chihiro's eyes snapped open to pitch darkness at this. She could feel rough stone beneath her.

"If you're going to work for me, Kitsune, you will make _no_ mistakes." The voices weren't in her mind after all. They were coming out of the darkness. There was a thump of a body hitting the floor and a rustle of silk. The woman gasped ragged breaths. She sounded quite near. A thin line of light slowly appeared in Chihiro's vision as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Risuni was dimly illuminated nearby, breathing faintly, and still unconscious.

"Now. Go prepare the spell. They'll fade within the hour. Don't disappoint me now, my dear Kitsune." The voice was sweet again. The woman picked herself off the floor with another rustle. Her voice was above Chihiro again.

"Yes, Master," she said faintly. Chihiro heard limping footsteps, _(the woman?)_ fade into the distance. They echoed slightly.

More footsteps rang, with sharper clicking echoes. There came a muttered "Master."

"I want Misago," said the velvety voice.

"Yes, Master." The footsteps retreated. Before they completely faded away there came steps, running steps.

"Master!"

Silence.

"The council gave Zeniiba permission to search for the kidnapped humans."

_Zeniiba. Zeniiba knows we're here!_

"Permission?" The master inquired gently.

"Yes, to find them and return them to the human world. She got the law on her side!"

The master laughed. "Laws can be twisted to suit my plans. Let her come rescue her little pet human. When she doesn't return them to the human world, who'll be the kidnappers, hmm?"

_Huh?_

"Master?"

"Idiot," he hissed. "You wouldn't understand. They will be rescued. That's all you have to know."

"Yes, Master."

**The Japanese River Otter was officially listed extinct (along with a few other species) earlier this month, September 2012. Readers, I only ask you to be aware of your actions, and any consequences they might have. Know what is happening to the Earth, and spread the word. The word "Kawauso" is Japanese for "river otter." Remember Kawauso. Rest in peace. **


	22. Risuni's Oniisan

_Half an hour_, Lin thought as she ran up the stairs, careful to soften her steps. _Dragons! Always rushing into heroics._ She grabbed a few rolls from the kitchen and stuffed one into her mouth as she ran. The others she wrapped into her apron and tied the bundle shut. She reached the upstairs dormitory slightly out of breath, and slipped quietly in. The other women had been asleep for some time. She stepped carefully between sleeping yunas to her own blank spot on the floor. Out of all the women working in the bathhouse, Lin had been there longest, and she had been adamant about keeping the others off her spot on the floor. It had caused some trouble at first, but they had long since ceased to question it.

She lifted a small piece of floorboard where her head usually rested to reveal a small hole. Nestled there was a silk and wood charm necklace. Lin scooped it up and put it on, tucking the charm into her bathhouse uniform, just as a strong wind rattled the paper shutters.

* * *

Two sets of footsteps faded into the distance. Chihiro's eyes met Risuni's in the darkness.

"Risuni," she whispered. "You're awake."

Risuni's face paled as she felt the quality of the air around them. "Chihiro. This is the Spirit World."

Chihiro just stared at Risuni in bemusement.

"I've been here before," Risuni breathed slowly, "when I was little. At home, in the country, my grandfather tends the shrine, and my cousin is the miko, as was my mother before her. I really wanted to do it, but the job is traditionally passed down through the male line, and…

"Well, my parents moved us out here after my cousin became the miko because they wanted me to get a proper education and so I'd have choices for my future. Me and my cousin had a spirit friend that we played with in the mountains. He was a deer, a spirit named Shika. He let us ride him and took us to the spirit world sometimes. He looked after all of us, me and my cousins, and we called him – "

* * *

"Oniisan…"

"Oniisan…where are you? I know I haven't come to see you and I'm sorry. Please come out?" A little boy with bright cheeks clambered barefoot over grassy mounds and around rocks, climbing higher and higher through the foothills. "Oniisan!"

"Ryoshi, I'm here. Shush, little one." The speaker was a spotted deer that had stepped out of thin air in front of the little boy.

The boy frowned but was otherwise unsurprised, as if he often saw deer appear before his eyes, which in fact, he did. "Shika-oniisan! I'm Kojika, not Ryoshi," he whined. "Why do you keep forgetting?"

"I don't forget, little one. You'll just always be Ryoshi to me." The deer knelt and the boy scrambled onto its back. He started picking its way through the rocks, placing each hoof carefully. They headed across the foothills, not climbing any higher. The boy perched with practiced ease on Shika's back, gently gripping the deer's antlers. "Tell me, why has it taken you so long to come see me? I've missed you."

"Mommy gave me chickens last week! She said if I take really good care of them, I'll have lots of little chicks soon. She says I'm growing up, and I get to be responsible!" Kojika bounced up and down in excitement.

Shika chuckled a deep rumble. "Yes, little one. You'll soon grow to be big and tall just like your daddy."

"Really? Really, oniisan? Soon?"

"Really," Shika said with a smile. "Where do you want to go today, Ryoshi-kun?"

"Let's go to the forest place again. Grandpa says cousin Risuni is behind the forest place. Let's go see her." One of Shika's ears turned back at this news, but his voice and steps stayed steady.

"Risuni-chan is in the Spirit World? What did your grandpa say, exactly?" Each step was deliberate and with a slight shimmer in the air, both deer and boy disappeared from the sight of anyone on the mountainside. Kojika, however, noticed nothing but that they were soon stepping through trees, which became thicker as they went.

"Something about the kami and Grandma Zeniiba," Kojika said unconcernedly. "He sounded worried, actually, but Grandpa is always worried now. And he's always at the shrine. He hasn't even had time to visit my chickens yet!" Shika didn't respond; he was concentrating. He picked his way between the trees. Every once in a while they crossed a stream. The air became subtly fresher and a mild smell of sakura blossoms floated on the breeze. "We're here!" The boy jumped down from Shika's back before the deer could kneel to let him off. "Look oniisan, forest strawberries!"

"You've gotten really good at finding those, Ryoshi."

"That's cus they're the best," said the boy between bites of the small berries. "I can smell them for miles away! I have an idea, let's bring some for cousin Risuni!" He carefully picked the reddest berries into his pockets.

"How are we going to find her, Ryoshi?"

"That's easy! Grandpa said she's at Yureibune." Kojiki looked up at the deer solemnly. "You know how to get there, don't you, oniisan?"

"Yes, little one, but we'll have to be careful on the way. Akuma lives near there." The deer knelt again, and this time Kojiki climbed on more slowly, careful not to crush the berries.

"I'm not afraid of Akuma," Kojiki replied cheerfully. "He's just like the big bad wolf in my bedtime stories, and the good guy always wins."

"I don't know, Ryoshi, the big bad wolf seems pretty scary to me. He's always eating little children up."

"But they get rescued by hunters and live happily ever after, oniisan."

Shika only shook his head and walked on.

* * *

Grey predawn light lit the cell from the barred window. True, the walls and floor were wood instead of traditional stone, but the walls were warded with a barrier against strong magical beings, and it was a cell nonetheless.

The door opened suddenly and Chihiro woke with a start. She looked up from the corner where they had slept, huddled, for most of the day, and shook Risuni. A woman appeared carrying a place of rice balls – the woman from the stationary shop.

"Eat, or you'll disappear." Her voice was blank. _She's the woman from last night,_ thought Chihiro. Risuni made a different connection: _wasn't she sitting next to us at the coffee shop?_ Neither of the girls moved. She placed the plate on the ground and left, closing the door behind her. Remembering the coffee, they didn't touch the food, though they hadn't eaten since the day before, and both had already started to fade. They held each other, not speaking, determined not to let the sweet smell of the rice overpower them.


	23. Escape

**We have left the realm of storytelling and entered the kingdom of notes. This chapter was never fully fleshed out, but I had written this outline of it, which I'm sharing with you here. As you can see, some elements of this story made it into the next draft. The net, for example, and Risuni's little cousin, and the shadow of Akuma's character. Unfortunately, Lin does not make as big an appearance in the second draft as she does here. Maybe that'll change in the next draft?**

They'd been flying over ocean for hours, and Lin was exhausted. She was not made for flying. Once in a while, they swerved to avoid a trap – a spell that made the air shimmer because the quality of the space had been changed, but the illusion hid it from most eyes. Lin saw that some were crudely done, and quite obvious, while others she could barely make out. Still others, she couldn't sense at all, but Haku obviously could, as they banked sharply to avoid them. Lin could sense no diminishing of Haku's concentration, and she trusted him, so she fell asleep.

* * *

Lin never said a word. I suppose at first she assumed I could see the traps that awaited us, because when I turned, she was prepared, and leaned her weight into the turn. And it was true that I could see some of the traps, but what Lin didn't understand was that I flowed with the wind as if it were water, and the wind saw through these illusions and went around them. I trusted the wind more than I trusted my eyes. I felt the evaporation of the seawater below us and saw the undersides of empty places where the droplets gathered, yearning to become cloud, and blocked. The water and the wind filled the negative space, telling me it was safe.

* * *

The girls sat with arms around each other in the corner, not moving. The cell was dark again as night had arrived. At least the spring air was warm. The rice balls had gone cold hours ago, and were less tempting now. They took turns sleeping, trying to conserve their strength. Chihiro willed herself to relax, to sleep, to trust Risuni's watch. She was sure that if she tried to stand up now, her legs wouldn't hold her weight. She was starving. It had been two days since they had last ate. They should've faded completely by now, but Chihiro had only had a sip of coffee since last trip, and human food hadn't had a chance to contaminate her system. As a result, she was still visible, but barely. Risuni was still visible too, and more so, but they don't know why. She has a drop of spirit blood. (Zeniiba's, but they don't know that.)

* * *

Shika hesitates, even though his steps had been so sure up til now. He probes the space before him with his nose. Kojika doesn't notice a thing, slips off and runs ahead. Shika, sounding worried for the first time, calls out to him softly to come back, but he doesn't hear. Shika settles down to wait when there's a loud crash in the sky. Haku comes crashing into the barrier, Lin flies off his back through the barrier. Shika steps through space to where Haku lands heavily, stunned. Haku turns back into a human. Shika looks around to make sure no one is watch, turns into a human, and carries Haku away from the gate.

Kojika sees Lin fall, and runs to her. Haku has alerted everyone to his presence, so the guards are rushing toward the barrier and completely ignore this little human boy and weasel (not enough power). She's winded but okay – she's in weasel (?) form, due to the charm necklace - and Kojika just tells her straight out why he's here. She looks around, recognizes where she is, and leads (sneaks) Kojiki (as a weasel) to Chihiro and Risuni's window at ground level.

"Oneesan" whispered.

Risuni is watching.

"Ryoshi?"

"Not you, too, oneesan," pout

"what are you doing here?" Risuni goes up to the window, puts her arm out to Koji, arm goes right through the bars. She looks startled.

"I came to bring you strawberries" wide grin

"Okay, Koji, wait right there." Risuni goes and shake Chihiro awake, and pulls her to her feet. You can see that they're both translucent head to toe. They are solid to each other but not to anything else. They climb through the window slowly since they're so weak. Koji feeds them each a strawberry, and hands them the rest. They crouch in the bushes as spirit soldiers head back empty-handed when there comes another loud bang. The soldiers turn around and head toward the sound. They look up and see Haku the dragon, at the barrier, with sparks flying everywhere from his attack on the barrier. Suddenly a black net appears and drops on Haku, and Akuma is there (what does he look like?) standing on a cloud raising his hands and controlling the net. Haku thrashes around but has no effect on the net. Akuma draws him toward the barrier, and then Shika is next to them.

"Hurry!" One terse word. They run through the barrier while Akuma is distracted.


	24. Epilogue - A Dragon's Scale

**I never finished writing this version of the story, since I started rewriting before the plot was complete. But I did write this little bit of fluff as an epilogue to this version. If you made it this far, I'm going to assume you enjoyed this peek into my writing process. Please go and read the newer version of Chihiro on my profile and leave your comments there! And keep an eye out for the next (final?) version, which is in the works. Thanks for being with me throughout this whole journey. I had a great time and thoroughly enjoy your company in the reviews :)**

**Love,**

**Swansae**

Rain. Rain poured down out of the sky as if someone in the heavens had upended a bucket. And for all Chihiro knew, maybe they had. The hot ground steamed as the rain hit it, raising a white mist that obscured the school gate and the trees where Haku had waited for her after school. That seemed like such a long time ago. The wind sprayed rain onto Chihiro's face. The tree shook, raining droplets down. Warm rain. Like a caress. It was summer, and soon the monsoons would begin. This wasn't a monsoon storm, Chihiro could tell. It was still too early in the year. No, this rain was the celebratory dance of the dragons. They had their prince back. The storm would last days, she knew, and the human world would be raised out of its ignorance, if only temporarily. The rain, the wind, she would never look at weather the same way again. She would never learn about air pressure and trade winds without thinking of the dragons, the majestic, noble, passionate creatures she knew and loved. She would never learn about earthquakes and the creation of islands without seeing their beautiful mating dance.

Chihiro gazed out across the grassy expanse from under her tree. It was just the school lawn, but in the mist it seemed like she was seeing Swamp Bottom for the first time. She remembered her frightened heartbeat getting off the train. All the things she had heard about Zeniiba had been true. She is powerful, and dangerous, and knows the power of love and friendship. She remembered the weight of Boh-mouse on her shoulder, facing the world for the very first time, and smiled. Boh would grow up to be someone someday. She would miss him.

The wind danced with the rain, blowing droplets every direction, sometimes cradling it to bring it higher, sometimes chasing the droplets to the ground. No one would be out in this weather. This wind would snatch umbrellas and sneak up raincoats, but Chihiro didn't mind getting wet to the bone. How could she, when her friend was a prince of water dragons. She leaned against the tree and stared at the sky, imagining him walking through the mist; his royal kimono would be billowing in this wind, the way his tail did in flight. His hair would be wet, but the water wouldn't weigh it down. It would be streaming, too, unlike Chihiro's, which was plastered to her skin. And his olive-green eyes, which were sometimes still cold and unfeeling from his time grieving, would be sparkling and soft with a smile.

For just a moment, there was a white shimmer against the dark storm clouds, and an apparition appeared out of the mist where the school gate was hidden. It walked toward her, every inch the way she had imagined. Chihiro sat there watching the vision come closer, until it had settled down next to her, leaning against the tree with her, staring into the sky with her. She closed her eyes, not talking, not moving, not wanting the vision to end. She knew why he had come, and wished that he had not. She wished it was just a fantasy, a figment of an imagination that missed Haku so much it hurt to think about him, to think about what they couldn't have.

She felt an arm around her shoulders. It had been so long since he'd had the time to do that, what with court duties and greeting guests. He was so warm. Chihiro leaned into his chest. At times like these, she could almost believe that he was human. But of course, he was not. That was a barrier that could never be surpassed. Not just the one of human and spirit, which might be surpassed at death, but the one of two different species. He pulled her closer, and rested his cheek on her hair. They both knew what had to be said, and so said nothing. They just wanted the moment to last.

But moments never last forever.

"I'm really going to miss you," he said softly.

She refused to turn and look at him. It was silly, she knew, and she would regret it once he left, but it hurt too much to look at him now.

"It seems like every time we meet, we have to say good-bye again."

"But next time we meet, we won't be strangers."

Now she turned to look at him. He was standing up. He pulled her to her feet.

"You mean I'll see you again?"

"Of course!" He looked surprised. "Whatever gave you the idea that we wouldn't?"

"But you're a prince and you're busy and we don't live in the same world…" Haku cut her off by pulling her into a tight hug.

"Chihiro, I love you," he said, holding her. "How could I just let you go?"

"But…I'm not a dragon," Chihiro said to the space above his shoulder. Haku didn't reply. "…you don't mind that I'm a human?"

Haku pulled out of the hug, holding her shoulders the way he always did when he reassured her, and held her gaze. "Do you mind that I'm a dragon?" he asked. He already knew the answer, but wanted to make sure that Chihiro knew it, too. Chihiro shook her head mutely.

"Good," he said, and smiled. He smoothed her wet hair back out of her eyes behind her ears, and placed his hands on the sides of her face. Chihiro closed her eyes as he stepped toward her. She felt his kiss, soft and hesitant at first, and then he drew closer and pressed her body to his and kissed her passionately for a full minute…

Too soon, Haku pulled away. With a sad smile, he ran a hand through his hair and opened it to show Chihiro a smooth white scale. He held it out to her.

"To remember me by."

She took it and slipped it into her pocket. One last hug, and Haku reluctantly pulled away. He didn't walk away into the mist, nor did he fly off into the clouds. He only stood there, staring at Chihiro, taking in as much of her with his eyes as he could, and melted into the rain.

Chihiro stared at the place where Haku became the rain for a very long time before she headed home. As she walked, she pulled the scale out of her pocket.

It was as smooth and cool as a river stone, and shimmered like mother-of-pearl.


End file.
